
Yuendumu
The Yuendumu School is composed of 260 student from Preschool to Senior Years. The team is made of both yapa (Indigenous people) and kardiya (non-Indigenous). 95% of the students speak Warlpiri as their first language.
Yuendumu is an Indigenous Community which sits on the edge of the Tanami Desert approximately 350 kms north west of Alice Springs. It is one of the largest Aboriginal communities in central Australia with a fluctuating population of approximately 1,000 Warlpiri people.
The Yuendumu School is composed of 260 student from Preschool to Senior Years. The team is made of both yapa (Indigenous people) and kardiya (non-Indigenous). 95% of the students speak Warlpiri as their first language.
The community met at Peace Park to develop the Community School Safety Program that is part of the activities supported by WCE to strengthen governance of local education governing bodies in Yuendumu.
The YEET team is made up of three Warlpiri senior leaders and two Warlpiri young leaders from the Yuendumu community who highly value education and believe that investing in education is critical to the community’s future. The team drew on local experience, implementing engagement activities that are known to be the most effective for residents of the Yuendumu community.
Jimmy Langdon’s work will reinvigorate senior leadership at Yuendumu through establishing a Warlpiri Senior Leaders Group. Drawing on the collective knowledge of the senior leaders of Yuendumu, local solutions will be devised to:
Jimmy will also mentor the Education Team Leaders, specifically on engaging young males and females into education, especially at the Jaru Learning Centre.
Elizabeth Katakarinja’s work involves strengthening the Warlpiri Education Board (WEB) through conducting consultations directly with partners, parents, families of the Yuendumu community and local stakeholders on the proposed development of a Warlpiri Secondary College.
Elizabeth will also design and conduct the research activities in conjunction with co-Indigenous researcher Simon Fisher, Cultural Officer of Pintupi Anmatyerre and Warlpiri (PAW) Media and Communications.
Elizabeth is a very strong spokesperson on education at Yuendumu and will utilise her current role as Video Officer at PAW Media and Communications to broadcast on radio discussions with elders and youth on Indigenous pathways to higher education from a Yapa perspective.
Elizabeth will also work closely with Jimmy Langdon on the development of a Warlpiri Senior Leaders Group, encouraging senior women in the active role of leadership
Both Cedric and Gabrielle worked collaboratively to build confidence in young people on the value education has to improving their life, their families and the community.
Many of the activities aim to attract young people to attend the Jaru Learning Centre but broader engagement activities will take place in hubs where younger people congregate, mentored by the Warlpiri mentors, Elizabeth and Jimmy.
Simon has been a researcher in his own right since the elders of Pikilyi, (Vaughan Springs of Mt Doreen Pastoral Lease) appointed him in 1997 to conduct research on the significance of Pikilyi to the Warlpiri people. He will lead the research in the community and mentor both Jimmy and Elizabeth in their research.
I joined the team in April 2016, just in time for the team meeting at Tennant Creek, where it was realised that the team needed someone to analyse the data that was being generated across the different communities.
Being a part of the WCE Initiative has been a wonderful experience and I have learnt so much from being a part of this team with such diverse backgrounds that supported each other throughout the initiative.
© 2015 Charles Darwin University
Website created by Dash Media Darwin.