Gunnedah Shire Council's Multicultural March program a hit in Local Government Week Awards

Gunnedah Shire Council snagged a special acknowledgement in the Local Government Week Awards for its Multicultural March program.

For the month of March, the shire's library was transformed into a colourful space of flags, mannequins and books to celebrate and highlight multiculturalism.

Librarian Christiane Birkett said the program was a "great success" with more than 5500 people visiting the library during March.

"It's really exciting for our library staff to receive this award and I'd like to thank my team for their creativity, fresh ideas and enthusiasm for our many programs," she said.

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The program attracted record-breaking numbers to the existing Book Buddies program after the library collaborated with the Multicultural Women's Association (MWA) to tell stories in Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Malay, Maori and Korean.

"All participants expressed a delight in the program and their joy in speaking of their own culture to others, and the wish to continue storytelling in this welcoming space," Mrs Birkett said.

MWA president Katerina Haenga said members of the group "thoroughly enjoyed" being part of the library's program.

"We believe that multicultural literature serves as a powerful tool in enabling children to gain better understanding of their own culture and the cultures of others; it was great to share our cultures within the community of Gunnedah," she said.

Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey and Mrs Birkett were in Sydney to accept the award.

Cr Chaffey said the acknowledgement was a reflection of the library's "hard work and ingenuity".

"Our library is a fantastic facility for the whole community and I commend Christiane and her team who put in so much work to provide a wide variety of initiatives and programs for all ages and interests," he said.

Murray River Council took out the win in the Innovation in Special Events category for its Moama Lights project.

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