When the Newcastle Knights run onto the field against the Sydney Roosters on Friday night as part of the NRL’s Indigenous round, see if you can get a good look at their boots.

Every pair is hand-painted with Aboriginal designs, personalised to represent the country where each of the players come from, “whether they are saltwater [coastal] or freshwater [inland] people”, according to one of the project’s originators, Mark Watson.

Watson is a Gamilaroi man from Walgett in north-west NSW, and for many years was an Aboriginal education worker in local schools. These days Watson runs a successful business with his wife, Jodie, and their eldest son, Connor, is the Knights’ five-eighth.

Newcastle player Connor Watson with artist Gavin Longbottom at the Glen Centre. Photograph: The Glen Centre

The boots are the first initiative of the Watsons’ newly formed Cultural Choice Association, established to build awareness around Indigenous youth suicide and help fund research and prevention.

It began after Watson’s nephew, Parker, took his own life in 2017, a devastating loss.

Watson has been painting his son Connor’s footy boots since he made his NRL debut for the Sydney Roosters three years ago, and over that time other players have said they wanted theirs done too.

“So we decided to paint their boots and use the Indigenous round as a platform to create more awareness about youth suicide,” Watson said.

The family approached the Glen Centre drug and alcohol rehab facility on the New South Wales central coast, as well as Aboriginal kids at the Frank Baxter juvenile detention centre at Kariong and students from the Kirinari Aboriginal hostel in Newcastle, to see if they wanted to help.

“Some of the kids haven’t painted before so I’ve been teaching them, showing them what to do,” Watson said. “Some of them are very talented, some of their work is very, very good. The young blokes at Kariong really loved it.”

Watson said he laughed at the sight of a small 13-year-old painting a pair of size 16 men’s footy boots. “They nearly covered his shoulders! There’s so much pride in the job they’ve done, it’s amazing.”

The boots are a mixture of factory-fresh and well-worn: “Some players change them every week, others get a pair they like and wear ’em until they fall apart … and some of them, we needed to clean them first,” Watson said.

Lachlan Fitzgibbon’s boots, painted by 13-year-old Damon Russell-Tuhura. Photograph: Jodie Watson/Cultural Choice Association

“It was a big job,” Jodie Watson added. “We got 27 pairs painted. The kids did two or three sessions of six to eight hours at a time, sitting there painting. Mark got tired, but they didn’t.”

The design on Connor Watson’s boots was painted by 15-year-old Malakye Walford and represents where the two rivers meet outside their home town of Walgett. There are also symbols for his family and for those who are “no longer with us, including my cousin Parker”, he said.

“It’s pretty special. It’s hard to put into words, what it’s like to run out in these boots, it’s an emotional thing.

“We are in such a privileged position where people want to buy our boots, and while we are in this position, we should do something positive and give back.”

All the artists have been given tickets to the game so they can watch their creations in action – except the kids at Baxter in Kariong, who will have to watch on TV instead.

Tim Glasby’s boots, painted by Gamilaroi Year 10 student at Kirinari, Anthony Walford. Photograph: Jodie Watson/Cultural Choice Association

Since the start of this year, 62 Aboriginal people – 15 of them children – have died by suicide. More than half of them were under 25 years old, and the youngest was only 12.

The suicide rate is an “unspeakable tragedy”, Australia’s three major medical organisations have said. They wrote to the Morrison government pleading for action in March, after four young Aboriginal people died in a single week in Queensland.

There have been investigations and reports, but there is no national strategy for Indigenous suicide prevention. There was one drafted in 2013, but it was abandoned by the Abbott Liberal government in 2014.

Twelve-year-old Addison Hansen from Kirinari presents James Gavet with his new boots. Photograph: Jodie Watson

Prof Pat Dudgeon, a psychologist at the centre for best practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention at the University of Western Australia, said prevention is about strengthening protective factors like family, culture and identity, and working on broader risks like housing, health and employment.

“When there’s a young suicide, fingers are pointed at the families, and that’s not the way to go forward. It just makes the grief and loss that much more intense and horrible,” Dudgeon said. “I think the possibility of suicide is there for us all. If you see it, you know it’s do-able. But research shows it’s better to talk about it and be frank, you know. If we can save one young person’s life, it’s worth everything.”

Kirinari hostel’s head of boarding, Lehetta Porter, said the boys were “over the moon” at being involved.

“It’s massive to them. The boys are all away from family, and it’s given them such a buzz. They’ll carry this for the rest of their life,” Porter said.

Kirinari has been home to some of NRL’s biggest names during their school years: Greg Inglis, Tyrone Roberts, Ash Gordon and Timana Tahu all stayed at Kirinari for a time.

“This is about building pride, as well,” Porter said. “Showing the boys that kids from small communities like them can crack the big time. If they see those guys can do it, they can do it.”

Connor Watson said his teammates are so impressed by the boots they’re “a bit filthy” they have to give them away after the game.

The Knights will auction the boots online at full-time on Friday night. The money raised will go to Cultural Choice, The Glen, Kirinari hostel and to help fund the art program at the juvenile detention centre at Kariong.

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org