Loading

Tranby Yarns Jan - March 2022

Budyeri Kamaru 2022 - Hello 2022 (Gadigal language).

This year is a significant milestone for our Tranby team, students and community, as we celebrate 65 years of the Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative. We hope that you will walk with us this year as we reflect, connect, grow stronger, and continue educating, empowering and inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to make change happen for our communities.

Already in the start to 2022, we have seen some incredible things achieved by our Community. In January, Ash Barty became the first local woman to claim a grand slam on home soil in 44 years, and only the second Aboriginal woman ever to do so! In January our beloved flag was also freed, thanks to a community campaign run by Clothing the Gap. This year also marked the 14th anniversary of the Apology to Australia's Indigenous people, a significant step in our Communities healing but also a reminder that we still have a long path for legislative change to keep our kids with family.

At Tranby, huge milestones have also been achieved for our Community. The first national Indigenous-led careers centre, Burawa has launched its website and opened course applications. Burawa provides culturally meaningful education, support and advice to help Move our Mob Up into the careers of their dreams. In other news, our amazing Tranby students continue to learn online for the second year in a row, showing the many ways our mob are adapting, remaining resilient and striving for connection and education during continued border disruptions.

This year there is lots to celebrate in the Tranby Yarns, please read more...

Tranby celebrates 65 YEARS

In 1957, 65 years ago, Tranby opened our doors to Community. We have been empowering Aboriginal peoples to gain a meaningful education for longer than us mob have been legally recognised as Australian Citizens. This legacy of social action is something we can all be proud of.

This year as we celebrate Tranby’s 65 years of making change happen, we also have so much to reflect on... 65 years of connecting Community. 65 years of social action and activism. 65 Years of sharing culture. 65 years of education that has changed lives, families and communities.

During the year, we hope you join us on campus (or digitally) as we reflect on and celebrate our impressive legacy – what we’ve achieved and how we’ve achieved it alongside Community. Throughout the year there will be events to attend on campus and online, as well as opportunities to share your memories at Tranby and donate to keep our doors open and keep our mob learning at Tranby.

If you want to be involved don’t forget to follow us on social media and join our mailing list. If you want to share your memories of Tranby as we look back on 65 Years, please email our Community Projects Manager Jacinta, to have your story shared with our Tranby team– projects@tranby.edu.au.

We couldn’t have made it to 65 years without you community – thank you for walking with us on this lifelong learning journey…

Burawa launch

It has been a busy few months for the Burawa team with the launch of the Burawa National Indigenous Careers Centre website. The beautiful artwork showcased on our website and brand was created by Aboriginal artist Luke Penrith, with ancestry from the Wiradjuri, Wotjobaluk, the Yuin and the Gumbaynggirr nations. Luke himself is a proud Tranby Alumni.

The Burawa team has grown with two new team members, Elinor, our Project Coordinator and Jordan, our Student Support Officer. The team has been jam-packed accepting applications and preparing for our Return to Career course, a two-week short course commencing on 21 March 2022.

We have had 2 meetings with our Aboriginal Advisory Council, who have supported us to review and test the website and review the course content. We have also been working hard to grow our following on social media, with a staggering 600+ followers on LinkedIn alone.

2022 is going to be a big year delivering our online non-accredited short courses on multiple occasions in each category:

  • Career Entry
  • Return to Career
  • Change in Career
  • Career Progression

To apply for these short skills-building courses, visit the Burawa website.

BLACKBOOKS

This year BLACKBOOKS is growing! As we celebrate 65 Years of the Tranby Aboriginal Co-operatives’ strong history of Community-led action, it is noteworthy to see BLACKBOOKS re-emerge and re-establish itself as an important pillar of the literature recording and bookselling community. Through collaboration, there are many exciting projects ahead for BLACKBOOKS this year.

Recording ‘Through Old Eyes’ with Uncle Wes Marne

We are excited to announce that in April, BLACKBOOKS will be publishing “Through Old Eyes: Poems of Uncle Wes Marne” to celebrate Uncle Wes’s 100th birthday on 25 April 2022.

Uncle Wes Marne is a Bigambul man and Community Elder who has lived and worked on Darug Land in Mt Druitt, Western Sydney, for more than four decades. His Father’s country, Bigambul country, is located in South West Queensland, spanning the Queensland and New South Wales borders and centred on the riverine area between the Macintyre and Weir rivers. His Mother’s country is Flinders Island (Wybalena).

If you would like more information about the book or the launch, please contact: BLACKBOOKS@tranby.edu.au

TalkBLACKBOOKS audiobook app in development

In February, the BLACKBOOKS team were hosted by the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Cultural Co-operative in Nambucca Heads to start the audio recording of stories from the “Gumbaynggirr Yuludarla Jandaygam –Gumbaynggirr Dreaming Story Collection”. Under the cultural leadership and direction of Uncle Gary Williams we had a successful day at the Grow the Music studios in Tormina.

First Nations LGBTQIA+ writing and story sharing

BLACKBOOKS is establishing a Writing and Story group for our First Nations LGBTQIA+ community members – it will be delivered online and through live events at Tranby and other venues hosted with our partners in other capital cities and regional centres. The group will be a peer-to-peer program aimed at building confidence and skills for First Nations LGBTQIA+ people to share their stories and creativity.

If you would like to know more, please contact: BLACKBOOKS@tranby.edu.au

Yanalangami 2022

The Strong Women, Strong Communities Program grows!

In 2021 we launched a national social media campaign calling for nominations of inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Female Changemakers. We received many impressive applications, and from those, 16 inspiring women were selected by our Aboriginal Advisory Council to walk the Yanalangami journey with us.

Aunty Bernice ready for an online Yarning Circle

In March 2022, with NSW Women’s Week, Tranby will launch the 2022 program. This year we will be running three distinct Yanalangami Leadership programs, two face-to-face programs, both in NSW and Lutruwita (Tasmania) and another national online program. In its second year, we are growing and adapting our model to be responsive to different community’s needs, a further testament to the strong impact and success of Yanalangami’s program.

Yanalangami team members Aunty Bernice, Belinda and Jacinta down in Lutruwita (Tasmania) collaborating with incredible Aboriginal Female Changemakers' Tarni Matson & Michelle Maynard

Applications and nominations to the program are open this Tuesday, the 8th of March! Do you know an inspiring Aboriginal woman making positive changes in her community? Nominate her to the program! The online program runs for 6 to 10 weeks and involves mentoring, personal reflection, leadership skills training and connections with deadly women from around Australia.

To learn more about the program and nominate or apply, please visit our Yanalangami website.

COMMUNITY LUNCH

We celebrated our first event for 2022 with a small community lunch. Everyone was in great spirits, enjoying a yarn, sharing stories and enjoying the rainy day, shared with good company on campus. As always, Aunty Beryl cooked up a fabulous feed for all present. We hope to open the Tranby campus to our Community for more lunches later in the year.

First Innovators collaborating on campus

Some other exciting news is an evolving collaboration between Tranby and First Innovators. In 2022, we will be working together to build and expand both our organisations' capacities to deliver for Community. https://www.firstinnovators.org/

Tranby Students continue on their digital learning journey..

Like so many organisation, the past two years have presented some sudden challenges. The Tranby Academic Department rose to those challenges to transition many of our programs online.

Due to COVID-19, suddenly students could not come to campus, so our team designed, developed and delivered that unique Tranby campus learning to them, online. In less than two years, Tranby has launched three online Diploma courses. Tranby’s dedication to providing access to Indigenous education in a culturally safe space, was at the forefront of redesigning our courses for online learning.

Our first online offering, the 10578NAT Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies, was a great success. This one-year long Diploma finished in 2021, with a high graduation rate, connecting our Indigenous students from all over Australia.

The other two courses launched in 2021 are also progressing well, these are: the 10861NAT Diploma of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Advocacy and the BSB50715 Diploma of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Governance.

We expanded the Academic Department to include additional Aboriginal student support officers for our remote learners. Our wonderful trainers and support staff make sure our students keep progressing and know that we care about their educational and personal success. We’re proud that Tranby students get one-on-one attention and assistance that includes technical support and access to cultural support through our Elders in Residence program.

We love the buzz at our Gadigal campus when students come to Block but we’re so pleased to expand into online learning as well. We’re continuing to develop all our courses as online offerings and there will be more courses on offer this year, so keep an eye out for information on Tranby’s website or Facebook page.

You can always complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) on the Tranby website for courses you might like to study. Filling in an EOI means you’ll be amongst the first to receive an invitation, when applications open.

Aunty Bernice Hookey, Lead Yanalangami Facilitator

Bernice is a proud Waanyi woman, mum and Changemaker. She is an accomplished speaker, author, mentor and leader. A previous Tranby alumna, Bernice learned new business skills and enhanced her confidence as a leader by learning alongside other Aboriginal students from around the country.

After completing her studies, she embarked on a leadership journey and founded MZB Empowerment to improve the quality of life for mob. She is a voice for the voiceless. In her work as our Lead Yanalangami Facilitator, Bernice seeks to strengthen the empowerment of individuals through unique program delivery in a culturally safe environment. Bernice is committed to walking with other women along their leadership journeys and supporting them to thrive.

"Tranby is a meeting place where mob gather and learn in a community of inspiring people"

Emma Griggs, Pojects and Relationships Director

Emma is a proud Wiradjuri woman, her family descends from Sofala NSW. As a Tranby alumna, Emma is passionate about culturally meaningful education opportunities for our mob. She has brought to Tranby 20 years of experience working in different Government sectors, including the arts, emergency response, and healthcare. She specialises in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (identified and targeted) human resource development, administration management, cultural inclusion and awareness facilitation.

Emma is responsible for partnership and relationship building for Tranby, leading a small team of project officers and volunteers to oversee the execution and delivery of day-to-day operational activities for allocated projects.

Emma's interests include social justice, animal welfare, geology, horticulture, painting and she has recently started to learn traditional Aboriginal weaving practice.

Elinor Wilcken,  Project Co-ordinator (Burawa)

Elinor is the project coordinator at Burawa, building a robust program with staff and community committed to moving our mob up. Elinor works to support our shared community as a project coordinator and freelance capacity builder on Gadigal/Wangal land in Sydney, Australia. Her fierce passion for breaking down barriers and supporting people to live their safest, healthiest, thriving lives is underpinned by her natural and built upon strength in strategy, community engagement and capacity building.

Elinor holds a Bachelor of Communications with a double major in Social Justice and Journalism and commits to ongoing self-education through courses, work experience and listening to Community. Elinor's strengths are in her ability to build strong, meaningful relationships, efficiently manage multiple projects and her understanding of human rights, global politics and development.

Having worked in refugee settlement, international microfinance, queer health and suicide prevention, Elinor brings a breadth of experience to her role at Tranby and is keen to contribute where she can.

International Women's Day and Launching Yanalangami 2022

Our team couldn't have dreamed of the incredible impact of the inaugural program. Connecting and inspiring 16 Aboriginal female Changemakers from around Australia. The program was significant due to the enduring COVID-19 lockdowns, and provided a safe cultural space for women to be women. Tranby will be running our Yanalangami Changemaker program on campus this year.

More to come soon.

Community Consultation Lunch Glebe Stories Festival

On Friday 18th March, join us on campus for a planning meeting to dream, develop and action the 2022 Glebe Stories Festival. This event and festival program is proudly supported by the City of Sydney. This meeting is open to all Glebe workers, community members and residents who want to participate. If you would like to join the planning meeting, please RSVP to our Community Projects Manager, Jacinta, via projects@tranby.edu.au

We look forward to you seeing you throughout the year on campus! Remember to follow us on social media platforms to follow our exciting Tranby projects and incredible team!

Stay connected with the latest news - connect with us on tranby twitter, tranby facebook, tranby instagram, Tranby linkedin and Tranby's website.

If you wish to unsubscribe to this mailing list please email us at reception@tranby.edu.au