Penelope

My creativity has helped me a lot because without creativity I would never have dreams.

Yuwin ngadhi Penelope Towney. Baladhu marra marra ngumbaay. Dyiramadilinya badhu Wiradjuri gi Palawa.

My name is Penelope Towney.

I'm eleven and I'm proud to be Wiradjuri and Palawa.

When I was seven years old, I was in a Black Lives Matter rally and one of the Aunties asked me does anyone else want to come up and speak?

And so I said to her, mum, I want to go up, I want to say something.

Yeah.

My whole family was really proud of me and it was on the news.

And that just motivated me to keep making films and keep doing what I had done that day.

And then I made my first film, The Land We're On with Penelope Towney, and that was really an honour.

What happens next?

I'm very proud to be a recipient of the Nanga Mai Award for Public Speaking, especially considering that when I got it, I was the youngest recipient of the Nanga Mai Award, and it was fantastic and just so felt amazing.

There was a time that my film, The Land We're On with Penelope Towney, simulcast between SBS, NITV and Channel 10 and my Pop got to see that and that just made him feel so proud and so happy seeing his culture represented in the media.

Proud and happy and just so thankful that his culture was being passed on and just wouldn't be forgotten.

My former teacher, Mrs Roberts, and now library teacher, she has given me a lot of opportunities, creative opportunities as a Library Monitor.

Jennifer

I certainly believe that our school is very lucky that we've had Penn Towney here at our school to provide inspiration.

And I'm really lucky that have her as one of my library monitors so that she's brought in and she's certainly been an integral part in our creating our beautiful library.

I always get to make big posters that always get to do drawings on like signs and stuff for the library.

In library time when she does story time, she's very inclusive and with our youngest students.

So I think in that way she inspires our students a lot.

Penelope

I hope that people are educated by my videos.

Little kids can learn about culture and learn about language and stories.

I wonder how all those people from different towns and cities communicated without computers or mobile phones.

Mrs Roberts supports me by just letting me be myself and just letting me practice my culture and then amplifying my voice.

Jennifer

I would like Penny to be able to take away a continued strength of self belief and know that there are people there for her that really believe in her. She's not judged and she can just be her and appreciated for who she is.

Penelope

I'm really excited for the next step.

I'm excited for high school, I'm excited to make friends, and I'm excited to channel my creativity into just different things, using my creativity onto the things that I do at school, like different productions and different artworks and all those things.

I'm Penelope and this is My Future, My Culture, My Way.