‘Words Make The World Go Around’ for Indigenous Literacy Day

Singer-songwriter Josh Pyke and Play School host Justine Clarke have joined forces with soprano Deborah Cheetham and students from Sydney’s Gawura Indigenous school to create the song ‘Words Make The World Go Around’ for Indigenous Literacy Day.

Indigenous Literacy Day raises funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation who provide books to children in remote communities. Source: Indigenous Literacy Foundation

The song which was released on Monday will be performed at the Sydney Opera House to launch Indigenous Literacy Day on September 7.

Josh Pyke took to Facebook to share his excitement saying it “was a really fun project to be part of. Working with Justine and the kids at the Gawura school was really rewarding… knowing it was all for a great cause made it that much sweeter.” 

The song tells of the power of reading with lyrics such as "words can solve the puzzle of this complicated place."

The students who lent their voices to the song's recording attend the Gawura School in Sydney, an inner-city school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from Kindergarten to Year 6. 

Both Pyke and Clarke are ambassadors for the Indigenous Literary Foundation which runs Indigenous Literacy Day to fundraise for the purchase and distribution of books in remote communities.

The charity single is available through ABC Music on iTunes or through Google Play. 

The Foundation has raised $859,000 this year towards supplying 150,000 books to 230 remote communities and hopes that the additional funds will help them to broaden their literacy programs in these communities. 

In the past six years the Foundation has published and funded over 44 community literacy projects, many of which have been published in first languages. This year children from Tjuntjuntjara, Mt Margaret and Menzies remote communities attended a 5-day writing camp with authors and illustrators, Ann James and Sally Morgan in order to create the book 'The Goanna was Hungry'.