Bulletin

Issue: July 2006

International

Computer lab for Tiwi Islands

Students at La Trobe University’s Chisholm College have donated a computer laboratory to boost educational opportunities for children on the Tiwi Islands. This followed a request from the Murrupurtiyanuwu Catholic School at Nguiu on Bathurst Island, which has 250 students.

The project was co-ordinated by College Manager, Jannene Graham. Chisholm’s IT staff, Andrew Robinson and Nick Evans, took up the technical challenge and, with the help of the La Trobe’s IT community, assembled 26 computers and other equipment for the island. The two men rebuilt and upgraded donated computers for the school and some extra ones for a ‘cyber lab’ for another community project in Nguiu.

The cost of transport was a major hurdle for Chisholm College residents, but NQX Freight came to the rescue, moving the equipment to Darwin, from where the Tiwi Barge shipped it across to Nguiu.

Other companies who helped with the project were National Storage and Box Makers, who donated wrapping material and boxes, while Mouse Matters provided the mouse pads.

Chisholm Head, Terry Collits, says the College’s next community service project for the Tiwi Islands is helping to fund a local breakfast and lunch nutrition program for students, some of whom do not get regular meals at home before school.