ABC Kids Early Education
The story goes like this; Bingo finds a toy turtle at the playground and wants to take him home, but Dad says it’s not the done thing. What if his owner comes back to find him? Later, Dougie and his Mum also play with Turtleboy and decide to leave him there too. But Bingo and Dougie both love playing with Turtleboy so much that they start to hide him … and so it plays out.
Another totally charming and relatable episode to spark that special kind of Bluey joy in child and grown-up hearts alike! As in all Bluey episodes, delightful layers of meaning unfold in Turtleboy. There’s the gentle, yet unmistakable message to consider the feelings of others and to think twice about taking things that don’t belong to you, no matter where you find them. Plus, Bandit reminds Bingo (and the rest of us) to switch off the TV and go outside to play.
Now in this Bluey first, we’ve been treated to an additional layer of meaning in Turtleboy. Newcomer Dougie, based on a cavoodle, is profoundly deaf and uses Auslan to communicate with his mum (voiced by Miranda Tapsell).
With sixty-two Auslan handshapes and many other signs created by spelling letters on fingers/hands, bringing this wonderfully inclusive episode to life was no small feat for Ludo Studio.
To authentically create each Auslan interaction between Dougie and his mum, Ludo collaborated with consultants from Deaf Connect; Australia’s largest provider of whole-of-life support for the Deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind communities.
ABC Kids Early Education caught up with Alex Fisher and Brent Phillips from Deaf Connect to learn about the development of Turtleboy and understand the impact of inclusive representation for the Deaf community in this episode of Bluey.
ABC Kids Early Education: How did Deaf Connect and Ludo Studio work together on Turtleboy?
Alex Fisher, Deaf Connect: To ensure communication between Dougie and his mum was authentically reflected, it made sense to connect Ludo with a family who receives support from our early intervention service. They are just like the family in Turtleboy; a hearing mother who signs and speaks, and a profoundly Deaf child that uses Auslan. Our consultants worked with Ludo during the scripting and editing process to confirm the script was translated accurately into Auslan and provided video of the Auslan to be animated. Along with correct handshapes, there were lots of other communication elements to consider. This involved use of grammatical and semantic features, like non-manual features [NMF] which means the movements of the character’s eyebrows, mouth, facial expressions, and eye gaze etc.
ABC Kids Early Education: What were the challenges helping to create animated Auslan and how were they overcome?
Alex Fisher, Deaf Connect: The characters in Bluey have four fingers on each hand which meant we were limited in some of the signs we could use, particularly if they required fingerspelling (if there is no Auslan sign for a word, the word is spelled using letters made on fingers/hands). In addition to handshape considerations, it’s important to use correct orientation, location, movement, and non-manual features. There were a few changes made along the way to correctly reflect this after the scenes started to come together.
ABC Kids Early Education: As Chief Impact Officer, what does this episode mean for the Deaf community?
Brent Phillips, Deaf Connect: To have a Bluey episode feature Auslan is very significant. The increasing visibility of Auslan on screen in recent years due to the presence at COVID press conferences, flood emergency broadcasts and the success of TV shows like Sally & Possum have had a positive impact on the level of interest in learning Auslan. This is evident with an increasing number of schools offering Auslan as a second language and the amount of interest and student enrolments in sign language classes, both online and in person, right across Australia. For deaf children, to be able to watch a Bluey episode featuring a deaf character reinforces that being deaf is positive and valued. The majority of deaf children in Australia are born to hearing parents, and Dougie’s conversation with his mother in Auslan is a critical part of the episode. It shows the power of natural communication between parent and child.
Watch Bluey: Turtleboy on ABC view in usual format and with full Auslan translation. For additional resources go to the Bluey craft page on ABC Kids and ABC Kids Early Education.
Additional resources
- Download ABC Kids Early Education Notes for Bluey Turtleboy. Developed in partnership with Deaf Connect.
- Watch Sally and Possum on ABC iview. Explore accompanying resources via Queensland Government.
About Deaf Connect
Deaf Connect is Australia’s largest provider of whole-of-life support for the Deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind communities. Deaf Connect is a not-for-profit social impact organisation with the mission to stand with the Deaf community, building capacity and influencing social change. Deaf Connect delivers services in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory with Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreting services delivered nationally. They are a registered service provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), a nationally recognised provider of home care for seniors and delivers accredited training in Auslan.