The Australian Braille Authority is pleased to report on the increasing availability of braille for accessibility throughout Australia. Here, we list known provision of braille in the following places: braille menus, braille street signs, braille and tactile maps, braille in playgrounds and parks, airlines with braille information booklets, products with braille or tactile labels and public artworks accessible by touch.
Braille menus
Braille menus at Bribie Island RSL, Queensland
Braille menus are a simple means of affording independence and choice for touch readers. Some restaurants offering braille menus in Australia include:
- Alkalizer – 91 Queen street, Campbelltown, NSW
- Alley’s Restaurant and Bar – Currumbin RSL, 165 Duringan Street, Currumbin, QLD
- Appetite cafe – 141 Great North Road Five Dock, NSW
- Bib & Tucker – 18 Leighton Beach Blvd, North Fremantle, WA
- Bribie Island RSL – The Botanic Dining Room and Broom Cafe at 99 Toorbul st, Bonagaree, QLD
- Cafe Twenty2 – 22 Williamson st, Bendigo, VIC
- Foodspace – cafe at 61 Gordon st, Mackay, QLD
- GOMA Cafe Bistro – Gallery of Modern Art, Stanley Place, South Brisbane, QLD
- Junction Hotel – corner of Ipswich and Annerley Roads, Annerley, QLD
- May Street Larder – Shop 23, 155 Canning Hwy, East Fremantle, WA
- Nandos – Portugese chicken restaurant at various locations throughout Australia
- PARKROYAL Hotel, Parramatta, NSW
- Pepe’s Restaurant & Tequila Bar, 184 Ennogera road, Newmarket, Brisbane, Queensland
Braille bills
Braille bills are available on request from the following companies:
- Commonwealth Bank
- Telstra
Braille street signs
- Brisbane CBD, Queensland
- Melbourne CBD, Victoria
- Sandgate, Queensland
- Spring Hill, Queensland
- Sydney CBD, NSW
Public transport signs
- Brisbane bus stops
- Victoria bus stops
Braille and tactile maps
- Albert Park Grand Prix track, Albert Park (near the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre), Melbourne, Victoria. Tactile sign without braille.
- Arts Precinct map and model, South Bank Brisbane, Queensland
- Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Southbank, Queensland
- Cairns Hospital, Queensland
- Gold Coast University Hospital tram station, Queensland
- Melbourne Sports Precinct, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne, Victoria
- Queen street mall, Brisbane, Queensland
- Sydney Town Hall, NSW
- Varsity Lakes Station, Queensland
- VisAbility, The Perron Centre, 61 Kitchener avenue, Victoria Park, Western Australia
- Vision Australia head office, 454 Glenferrie road, Kooyong, Victoria has braille and tactile maps with interactive audio labels, located in reception
Braille in playgrounds and parks
Braille in playgrounds and parks enables inclusion, promotes awareness of braille, and can provide a point of interest for all visitors.
- The Bob Pettit Reserve in Jan Juc, Victoria, has a Sensory Garden with braille signage and tactile mosaic tiles.
- Brimbank Park in Keilor, Victoria features signs for each letter of the alphabet with braille and Auslan. The playscape is designed for inclusion of children with all abilities.
- Cringila Hills Playground in Wollongong, NSW is an inclusive playground with a braille and tactile map of the playground, a braille story book and musical instruments.
- Cumberland State Forest in West Tenant Hills, NSW has a sensory trail with braille guide books available by prior arrangement. Contact 1300 655 687 for details or download the audio guide from their website.
- Dinosaur Park in Madeley, Perth, WA is a sensory playground with braille signage, tactile surface indicators and bright colour contrasts.
- Hays Paddock in Kew, Victoria has an all-abilities playground with braille and sign language signs throughout. Bright colours and different materials provide an enriched sensory experience.
- The Hills District All Abilities Playground is located in the Leslie Patrick Park precinct, Arana Hills, Queensland. You will be greeted by braille on the main gate. Tactile equipment includes a “Learning Braille” clock, wooden musical instruments and a cubby house with moving parts. There is also a sensory garden with scented herbs and a touch garden where visitors are invited to touch, smell and taste. There is limited road noise.
- Hughes Park features a Braille Walk with a sign for each letter of the alphabet. It is located in Lane Cove, NSW.
- The Jo Wheatley All Abilities Playground in Nedlands, WA, has braille signage. Features include a sensory walkway, accessible picnic areas, ramps, accessible toilets, a wheelchair carousel, and music, sand and water play areas.
- Luke’s Playground in Corrimal, NSW, is an all-abilities playground with a print/braille map.
- The Mount Lofty Botanic Garden’s Lakeside Trail in South Australia is designed to be inclusive for all. It is a 1 kilometre trail featuring 8 artworks, each with braille signage.
- Northcote Park Playground, Greenacre, NSW, has braille signage.
- Pioneer Park in Landsborough, Queensland is an all-abilities playground with jumbo braille letter signs. For sensory play it has a herb garden for smell, textured plants for touch and a xylophone and pipe telephones for hearing.
- Raven Street Reserve, Chermside West, Brisbane, Queensland has a large sign with braille, inviting use of all the senses
- The Lindsay Street playground in Queens Park, Toowoomba, Queensland is designed for all abilities. It features a learning braille panel, huge musical chimes, interlinking pathways, and a cozy dome with various textures on the other surface for climbing.
- Sydney Park Playground has an A-Z braille trail, braille instructions for a human sun-dial, and a musical suspended bridge.
Airlines with braille information booklets
- Alaska Airlines
- British Airways
- Emirates
- Qantas
- Virgin
Products with braille or tactile labels
- Herbal Essences use raised tactile stripes to indicate shampoo and circles to indicate conditioner on all of their bottles at the rear base.
- Lad Collective is a Brisbane-based start up offering a bedding set to help people with physical and intellectual disabilities to make their bed. This includes a braille bedding set with braille and tactile lettering on the labelled corner straps.
- M Chapoutier Wines
- Miele WDD 131 front-loading washing machine has tactile markers and audio menu
- l’Occitane beauty products
- Samsung television remote controls feature a braille letter P, V and C to indicate the power, volume and channel buttons
- Samsung washing machines feature a braille letter P and S to indicate power and stop. They also have audio tones and can be operated using an accessible app.
Public art accessible by touch
A list of public art accessible by touch is provided by ANZAGG, another subcommittee of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities.
Please contact us to suggest further items for the above lists.
The Australian Braille Authority is a subcommittee of the Round Table on Information Access for People with a Print Disability Inc.