Students from across the network arrive in Perth for the second Matariki Indigenous Mobility Programme

4 July 2017

The 2017 Matariki Indigenous Mobility Programme – ­Nyungar Katitjin Bidi – has now commenced at The University of Western Australia.  Delegates arrived safely to participate in a Welcome To Country and Smoking Ceremony on the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) by elders Doolann-Leisha Eatts and Walter McGuire, followed by an address from UWA’s Vice Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater and Glenda Kickett, Chairperson of the National Aboriginal and Islander Observance Day Committee (NAIDOC Perth).  The opening followed with delegate introductions and presentations from Professor Jill Milroy, Professor Len Collard and Assistant Professor Aileen Walsh on topics of Boodjar (land and country), Katitji (knowledge), and Moort (family), as well as the Indigenous history of Australia from a Western Australian perspective.

Over the next two weeks delegates will study in different locations, alongside different Indigenous communities, and have first-hand opportunities to investigate issues of local, national and global Indigenous rights, sustainable community development, environmental custodianship, arts and design, and cultural well being primarily from an Indigenous perspective.

Further updates on the programme will be posted on the MNU website in due course.