Bringing more transport options to local Indigenous communities creates pride, ownership and addresses social justice.

If you keep a look out, you’ll now be able to see witchetty grubs and kangaroos travelling the roads on the side of the Bonalbo Aboriginal Community bus. The colourful artwork depicting animals and trees found in the area of Bonalbo has been created as part of the Bus Identity Project, coordinated by Northern Rivers Community Transport (NRCT).

NRCTs Aboriginal Transport Development Officer, Lesley Mye, secured funds last year from Transport NSW to coordinate the Bus Identity Project which involved four Aboriginal Communities within NRCTs service area.

Lesley initially consulted with the four communities and sought endorsement for the project to proceed. BBQs were held within each community to enable community members to come together to paint their artwork onto a large canvas. The project took 5 months to complete and the canvas images was digitally copied and transposed onto each of the four Community Buses. It was a lot of fun for children and Elders alike and unique and spectacular artwork emerged.

Lesley thought the project might create a sense of pride and ownership as well as strengthen community identity. She had this confirmed when on the first night a newly artworked Community Bus returned to community, the youth of the community cleaned the entire bus.

“I saw the bus the following day and I remember asking Barrie 'Did we buy a new bus?'," Lesley said. "That is how good the bus looked."

The young brothers from Bonalbo cleaned a shed out so that their Community Bus could be parked undercover to keep bus with it's artwork out of the weather.

This project was fully community endorsed and without community participation the project would not have been a success. Along with in-kind support from NRCT and funds supplied from Transport NSW, the project was 100% successful.    

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