Rural Voices Amplified: Pilbara Students Shine in Country Music Project

Children from Western Australia's remote Pilbara region have collaborated with award-winning country musician Josh Arnold to produce a song and music video showcasing their unique educational experience.

A Taste of Rural Education

The students, who attend Port Hedland's School of the Air, gathered at Yarrie Station, a 250,000-hectare cattle operation about 1,500 kilometres north of Perth, to record the song and accompanying music video.

For students like nine-year-old Tanami Fox-Coppin, attending school in a remote area means learning in a vastly different environment than their city counterparts.

"We go on the computer and do [school] and we do our schoolwork with our governess in our school room next to the offices at the station, and under a tree, at lots of different places in the bush,"

she said.

With online lessons and activities, Tanami usually sees her school friends just three times a year. So, she was thrilled when her classmates spent two days camping at her family's property to film the music video.

"[I am] really happy, because we never get to see any of our friends,"

she said.

A Sense of Pride

The song is one of over 400 Arnold has recorded with rural and remote students across Australia. For over 15 years, the Toowoomba musician has been working on similar creative projects.

"[It gives them] a bit of pride in their school and who they are as station kids,"

he said.

"It's just really special and I was talking to the parents and they said 'it helps put us on the map.'"

School in the Bush

Tanami's mother, Annabelle Coppin, owner of Yarrie Station, said activities like making the music video made a difference to the students' attitudes towards school.

"It's sometimes hard for the kids because they're not in a classroom so you don't have that kind of peer support and they sometimes wonder why they're there,"

she said.

Coppin, who also did School of the Air from Yarrie Station, said it had changed considerably since her time.

"It was like a VHR radio; we had to share it with the RFDS [Royal Flying Doctor's Service] so if there was an emergency we had to stop for a bit and listen to what was going on with the emergency, get a few doctors' tips, and then go back to school,"

she said.

"Kids just being with kids is lifelong memories and something that will stay with them forever,"

she added.

A Platform for Rural Voices

Josh Arnold, who grew up on a sheep and wheat farm in Queensland, has travelled to every state and territory in Australia to give country kids a voice.

"I was one of them once and I would have loved the opportunity to sing about where I grew up and my school,"

he said.

"People all around Australia and the world are going to watch it and hear it. It's just a really special thing."