We recently travelled to Roebourne with Elements Margaret River, a town situated in the heart of the Pilbara and one which has received a pretty bad wrap over the years for the issues within the indigenous community. However... we were not there to focus on the negatives that so often fill our news broadcasts, but instead document the establishment of a new program designed to engage the school kids of Roebourne DHS and increase their rate of attendance....

Run by a very passionate team, in it's short lifetime, the Academy has had great success using music to engage a genuine interest for the kids to learn and participate. If they don't attend school for the whole day, they don't get to bang a drum or strum a guitar, and as a result they have seen a dramatic increase in school attendance. They are literally beating the doors down...

It was eye opening for us to be a part of it and we experienced a small insight into what life was like for these incredible kids, that we will never forget. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome and problems within the community that's for sure, but hopefully they will realise that they have a choice, and there's people like Boonderu who genuinely want to see them succeed and help them on their road to being able to 'walk in two worlds'.

Thanks to Qynn and Susie Beardman and Kendall and Marshall Smith for sharing this with us and all the people of Roebourne who opened their arms and let us in.

Imagery: Elements Margaret River and Darren McCagh