The Society’s final 50th Anniversary initiative in 2022 was in the education sphere and highlights the importance of language and cultural resources for teachers and students of Japanese throughout Queensland.
AJS-QLD President David Shield and Immediate Past President Margaret Rackemann recently travelled to Rockhampton to present Japanese teaching resources to members of MLTAQ’s Japanese network in Central Queensland.
The collection will form a Rockhampton based resource hub from which teachers throughout Central Queensland can borrow items to enhance their students’ experience of learning Japanese.
The collection includes a number of beautiful Japanese dolls; cultural items for festivals including Koinobori, Hina Matsuri and Setsubun, several kimono, geta, fans, noren, scrolls, origami supplies, books, study sheets and games.
The Japanese dolls were gifted from the private collection of world renowned doll artist Gladys Busch. A long-standing member and former Committee member of the AJS-QLD
Gladys has a strong connection with Japan. She worked alongside a number of Japan’s master doll makers during her Churchill Scholarship and has exhibited and run workshops in Japan since the 1980’s. Serendipitously she was also born and raised in Rockhampton.
It seems fitting that the dolls from her collection, together with the other resources, will now inspire future generations of Central Queensland students to develop a deeper interest and understanding of Japanese language and culture.