In December last year staff from Woolyungah Indigenous Centre and the Indigenous Strategy Unit spent time with the community at the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School (GGFS) and Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation (BMNAC). Based in Coffs Harbour, GGFS is the first bilingual Aboriginal language school in New South Wales, providing quality education grounded in Gumbaynggirr language and culture.
The school is the culmination of more than a decade of work by the BMNAC which operates to ensure that the local Aboriginal community, particularly their youth, are strong in both culture and education. Support for the school keeps increasing as the positive impacts are felt by students, their families and the local community demand. Our trip coincided with the opening of additional classrooms, the school expanding to include enrolments in years 7 and 8 from 2025, another first for Australia.
The trip gave staff the opportunity to connect with UOW students past and present. We were excited to see UOW Alumni Kye Foster in action as a classroom teacher, speaking Gumbaynggirr language with students from the school. We also had the privilege of spending time with current Master of Education student and CEO of BMNAC and the GGFS, Clark Webb. Clark shared some of his learnings about embedding cultural values and philosophies within mainstream curriculum to improve success rates for Aboriginal students and contribute to cultural revitalisation and healing within community. Opportunities for reciprocation and supporting GGFS and BMNAC through work placement and future career pathways for UOW education students were also a keen topic of conversation.
BMNAC also operates a number of social enterprises alongside Gumbaynggirr cultural and language revitalisation programs. These enterprises create employment opportunities for local community members and contribute to the BMNAC goal of being fully self-sustainable. Indigenous Strategy and Engagement shares a similar focus on social impact and increasing revenue to ensure the sustainability of our programs.
Vice President, Indigenous Strategy and Engagement, Jaymee Beveridge says ‘Our whole mission at Woolyungah is to aid our students succeed in higher education and to do it in a way that provides cultural safety and honours our diverse cultures and identities. BMNAC and the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School are leaders in this field. There’s a lot that higher education can learn from the example that they set.’.