Logan City council have won an award for a video encouraging adult migrants in Logan to learn to swim.
The video, titled Now I Can Swim, won the ‘Best Use of Video’ award at the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) annual communication awards.
Now I Can Swim featured seven different languages, including Burmese, Mandarin, Swahili, Arabic, Dari, Somali and English.
It was an attempt to encourage local migrants to participate in free, federally funded swimming lessons.
A council spokesperson said the key message of the video was “with the ability to swim, new residents could safely participate in the many water-based activities that are an essential part of the Australian lifestyle”.
This included going to the beach, water parks, or fishing.
Mayor Darren Power said the video’s message was important.
“Learning to swim is part of growing up in Australia, but many of our new residents haven’t had that opportunity,” Cr Power said.
“But safety in, and around water is important for everyone and this video ensured that message was delivered to those in our community in the language they might speak at home and understand best.”
The film was shot over three days and involved 16 actors.
English captions accompany the video and were checked by bi-lingual participants for accuracy.
“In making this multilingual video, council was able to extend our network among local community groups and being able to get important messages out in multiple languages will be a huge benefit in emergencies and natural disasters,” Cr Power said.
