Bernadette Murphy

We came together with a simple idea: that teacher candidates from Melbourne could learn on Yolŋu Country through placements in bilingual classrooms. University of Melbourne students arrived expecting to teach. Instead, they discovered a Yolŋu education system grounded in gurruṯu (kinship), deep cultural authority and bilingual pedagogy. They were welcomed, taught, supported and challenged.

We came together with a simple idea: that teacher candidates from Melbourne could learn on Yolŋu Country through placements in bilingual classrooms. University of Melbourne students arrived expecting to teach. Instead, they discovered a Yolŋu education system grounded in gurruṯu (kinship), deep cultural authority and bilingual pedagogy. They were welcomed, taught, supported and challenged.

Our communities – the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne and the Yambirrpa Schools of Yirrkala and Laynhapuy Homelands in Northeast Arnhem Land – have walked a shared path for more than 15 years. We came together with a simple idea: that teacher candidates from Melbourne could learn on Yolŋu Country through placements in bilingual classrooms. Yolŋu educators joined staff and students at Sydney Road Community School (SRCS) in Brunswick.