Jarli is an Australian Aboriginal girl who, buoyed by her ancestors and fuelled by her smarts, achieves her dream of travelling to space. Jarli was developed for the Royal Australian Air Force in collaboration with UTS Animal Logic Academy and House of Kitch. The goal was to inspire young people (particularly girls, especially indigenous kids) to reach for the stars and widen their eyes to possibilities opened up by STEM.
A critical element for Australia to achieve its sovereign space ambitions is the development of a workforce with the necessary STEM skills. With the space industry tripling in size by 2030, engagement with school kids, and encouraging them to study STEM, needs to start now.
Australia has a rich history of connection with space. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the world’s first astronomers, using the stars for navigation and knowledge. With the bulk of Australian space infrastructure located in remote areas on Aboriginal land, there are great opportunities for Australia’s space future workforce in remote areas and beyond. Evidence shows that sharing Aboriginal stories breaks down stereotypes and prejudice. It also empowers Aboriginal children, improving their educational engagement and outcomes.
A talented team of Indigenous creatives included co-director: Chantelle Murray, writers: Jonathan Bell & Andrew Dillon and voice actors: Madeleine Madden, Wayne Blair, Mark Coles Smith and Rahmah Bin Buyong. Simon Rippingale co-directed Jarli as part of his PHD thesis under Professor Andrew Johnston.
While the Jarli film premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, Jarli was pre-screened to a very special audience of Aboriginal children from the Katherine community in outback Northern Territory on RAAF Base Tindal. Audience members were treated to a unique pop-up cinema experience in an open aircraft hangar and a view of the night-flying activity at Tindal.
To truly inspire kids to reach for the stars, we realised we needed to get Jarli to space for real. We called in a lot of favours and she was laser-cut onto the space-based sensor casing for Project Falcon Neuro – a joint initiative between the Western Sydney University and US Air Force Academy.
We created a short film to follow Jarli’s journey starting in Australia and tracking the stringent testing through US Space Force in Houston and NASA, her trip to the International Space Station with NASA and SpaceX Falcon 9 in December 2021– culminating with a robotic arm attaching the sensor to the International Space Station.
The film is narrated by Kirsten Banks, a proud Wiradjuri astrophysicist.“When I look at the stars, I realise it’s the same stars my ancestors have seen for thousands of years. Jarli shows our children just how far they can go through STEM – they really can reach the stars.
The video was launched at Questacon during Science Week. In attendance was Defence Chief Scientist, Prof Tanya Monroe, Head of Australian Space Agency, Erinco Palmer, executives from Defence Space Command, Space Industry, and local school kids.
Jarli Augmented Reality
In partnership with UTS, a unique immersive experience was developed. This included an augmented reality display and interactive projection. There is also a mobile version of Jarli in augmented reality which transports Jarli to your location..
The immersive experience was taken to Science Alive and achieved great engagement with attending children.
House of Kitch worked with the RAAF to create merchandise and collateral associated with the Jarli launch to increase visibility and reach with school students.
Click the image below to take a look at the Jarli Magazine.
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