Allport Bequest grant confirmed to support the Kumundar Gujo Interactive Education and Creative Play project to be presented at the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
The Allport Bequest is a charity that distributes funds to organisations that benefit the people of Hobart. The Australian Wooden Boat Festival has had a close affiliation with the Allport Bequest over the years. One notable project funded by the Bequest was the “Early Dutch Explorers” project in 2016, for the 2017 AWBF. This supported the “Through Tasman’s Eyes” exhibition, hosted by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for the 2017 event.
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is pleased to announce that the Allport Bequest is supporting a new project, to bring a giant Japanese jungle gym to the AWBF 2025. The Kumundar Gujo is a giant play gym, constructed by children, out of pre-cut timbers, using traditional Japanese building/craft skills.
Yuji Kanesada and Hiroshi Yamaguchi are the creators of this concept in Japan, and have been working on the project for many months now. They are bringing with them a large contingent of Japanese support staff, as part of the AWBF 2025’s New Zealand and Pacific theme.
The AWBF is very much looking forward to featuring Kumundar as a major program attraction at the AWBF 2025 and the centerpiece of the Old Woolstore Little Sailors Village – a popular family-oriented precinct which invites thousands of children to discover a wide variety of activities, including interactive performances, games, creative learning, cultural exchange, and hands-on crafts.
Enabling the Kumundar team to travel to Hobart is essential to the success of this project. These experienced educators and facilitators will deliver the Kumundar program during the Festival and then will instruct key AWBF members and the Yaizu Sister City group, based in Hobart, how to facilitate the Kumundar program throughout Tasmanian schools after the Festival.
The Kumundar program will greatly enhance the AWBF 2025 and will be an absolute joy for Festivalgoers. Over the years, the AWBF has worked with Japanese boatbuilders, craftspeople, storytellers, and community organisations on a range of projects. The 2025 Kumundar project, however, is the most significant Japanese collaboration to date and will elevate the cross-culture exchange with Japan to a new and exciting level, amplifying positive impacts in the areas of education, cultural exchange, skill-building, and social cohesion.
Here is a great example of children’s constructing a jungle gym in the Kumundar style.
The kit is built out of pre-cut timbers, that does not require screws or other tools to construct.
