A BUS and trailer decorated with Aboriginal artwork created by Wauchope TAFE students will be on the road from this week, showcasing the skills of TAFE students and Indigenous culture.
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The bus, which is privately owned by Holiday Coast Connections, will operate along the Mid North Coast between Port Macquarie and Newcastle.
Regional Coordination funding from Transport NSW made the project possible and involved further funding from Wauchope Neighbourhood Centre and in-kind support by North Coast TAFE.
Wauchope Neighbourhood Centre auspiced the initiative. With support from Port Macquarie Neighbourhood Centre, North Coast TAFE, Hastings Macleay Community Transport and Bunyah Aboriginal Land Council, it gained funding from Transport NSW (through the Mid North Coast Region) to develop and implement the project.
The innovative project is a collaborative art and design project, engaging the Aboriginal Art Class at Wauchope TAFE Campus, who, with guidance from the teaching staff, worked in collaboration with Port Macquarie TAFE's Graphic Design students, the bus owners and commercial printers to design, specify and produce the bus wrap.
This project also supports the Two Ways Together initiative in closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and give a sense of pride to local Indigenous people in seeing local Indigenous art publicly displayed.
Member for Oxley Andrew Stoner said, "The NSW Government provided a $15,000 grant to the Wauchope Neighbourhood Centre's Wauchope Wanderings project. This is part of a NSW Government commitment to assist people from regional and rural who experience difficulty in accessing transport services.
"This project began in February and has been a great success, with students showing a great level of enthusiasm, participation and engagement," Mr Stoner said.
A TAFE spokesperson said the purpose of the project is to promote public transport and access to educational facilities for local Aboriginal communities, as well as other communities. It has been designed to provide an incentive for Aboriginal students to travel by bus, through having pride in and "ownership" of the bus, with a key outcome being safe, courteous and correct behaviour on the bus.