Two Strong Cultures/Imparja Cup
This project's parent organization is Cricket Australia
It operates in Australia
It uses Cricket
Shortlisted for the Sport Federation or Governing Body of the Year
More about Two Strong Cultures/Imparja Cup
As part of Cricket Australia’s ongoing goal to be Australia’s favourite sport and be a sport for all Australians, Cricket Australia is committed to greater engagement with Indigenous communities. The jewel in the Indigenous cricket crown is the annual national carnival, the Imparja Cup where approximately 30 men’s and women’s Indigenous teams from all over Australia compete in a week long celebration of the two strong cultures (the Indigenous community and cricket community) in Alice Springs.
It was identified that the Imparja Cup needed to strengthen its links to children in encouraging them to be involved in cricket and then providing a competition and role models to aspire to. Schools in Indigenous areas were seen as the best place to start that link.
In April 2007, as a result of an important social need identified in a number of remote Indigenous communities in Northern Queensland by Specialist Development Program Coordinator Nev Paulsen from Queensland Cricket, Cricket Australia committed to exploring whether the introduction of its CricKids Playing in Harmony program would add value to the educational, cultural, social and sporting status of these communities.
Community visits to the remote Indigenous communities of Woorabinda and Cherbourg in North Queensland by staff members from Cricket Australia, Queensland Cricket and curriculum development company Four Diegos were conducted. A series of meetings and interviews with community program drivers (i.e. school teachers, sport and recreation officers and local government representatives) were undertaken to determine and discuss the cultural appropriateness of the original version of the CricKids Playing in Harmony resource for an Indigenous teaching and learning school audience.
It was found that the resource, in its current format and design, was not culturally appropriate and should be re-purposed. With the support of the Federal Government’s Department of Health & Aging, the re-purpose included the redesign of the entire resource with an Indigenous look and feel and the restructuring of curriculum lessons to include a greater emphasis on Indigenous role models (particularly Imparja Cup cricketers), an increased number of art and design activities and greater links to local community events and activities.