"I speak two traditional languages. My mother’s language is Anindilyakwa, which is spoken by the Anindilyakwa people on Groote Eylandt, her home off the coast of the Northern Territory. The other is Alawa, my father’s traditional language, from our home, Ngukurr in south-east Arnhem Land. Not many people speak Alawa, but it is being revived.
Star student: Graduate in waiting Mel Wurramarrba (pictured above) enjoys sharing her passion for two-way education with students at the Wuyagiba Study Hub, known informally as the 'bush university'.
When I was in primary school, we had cultural sessions with Elders and traditional language was part of that. When I left home to go to high school in Alice Springs that disappeared, which felt wrong to me. Soon enough, I was homesick and I decided to leave – to finish high school in Ngukurr.
It was just me and my best friend who went through to Year 12 in our year. She wanted to pull out, but I said: ‘No, you can’t leave me!’. I was in that classroom every day. I went to school on weekends. I studied all day, every day.
It was during that year that I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I got accepted at Flinders University, but the transition was a shock. I was overwhelmed and when I came home after my first semester, I never went back. I gave up.
I am ready to share my story and my culture. And I want it for everybody, not only our people.
I was just enjoying myself at home – chilling out, sleeping – when there was a knock at the door. It was Macquarie Associate Professor Emilie Ens. I didn’t really know her at the time, but she was there with [local Elder, the late] Cherry Daniels, and they had a proposal. At first, they encouraged me to go back to uni and, when I said no, they said I should come and work with them.
That’s when I was introduced to the Wuyagiba project. Years later, this project would officially launch as the Wuyagiba Study Hub, a ‘bush university’ located near Ngukurr that provides young leaders in the community with a pathway to Macquarie University.
Working with Em and Cherry, I learned about the concept of a two-way education, which means access to both the traditional Western curriculum as well as an Indigenous curriculum. Suddenly I realised this was what I was missing in Alice Springs, this was what I was missing at university, and this was what I wanted to dedicate my professional life to.
That job was like a light that was showing me the pathway back to university. Today, I am one of 24 students at Macquarie University who have come from the Study Hub since it opened in 2018 – I was teaching there, the rest are graduates of the program.
I am in my final semester of a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Education at Macquarie University. It was my dream to become a teacher and be a champion of two-way education, and I am already doing that as a lecturer at the Wuyagiba Study Hub.
Two-way education changed my life. I feel brave. I feel confident. I am ready to share my story and my culture. And I want it for everybody, not only our people. Two-way education is the future."
Permission to include mention of the late Dr Cherry Wulumirr Daniels OAM was granted by family members.
