Having a Yarn with The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria

Our Place Northern Bay recently had the privilege of beginning the first of many conversations with The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria.

Significance of this opportunity

Our Place Northern Bay is located in the Geelong suburb of Corio, which has a significant proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents. Within the Northern Bay site is also the Korayn Birrallee Family Centre. The name ‘Korayn Birralee’ was chosen to recognise and celebrate the region’s Aboriginal heritage and means ‘Corio children’ in the local Wadawurrung language.

A collective site goal for Northern Bay has been to strengthen connections with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Acting as the role of ‘the glue’, Our Place recently supported this goal by connecting with and inviting representatives from The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria to tour the Northern Bay site and have a yarn with on-site education staff and leaders from both the school and early learning centre.

Touring the Northern Bay Site

Upon arrival, Stephanie and James from The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria, were taken on a tour of the Korayn Birralee Family Centre. This tour enabled conversations between educators and Stephanie and James to occur about further embedding Aboriginal Culture into their programming. Stephanie and James also expressed how impressed they were with the current early learning space. The tour then continued on to explore the school.

The school tour was conducted by two students who have been identified as up and coming Indigenous school leaders. With a few nerves, as this was their first time facilitating a tour, the two students explained important aspects of the college along the way.

Yarning with educators

After the conclusion of the tours and yarning with students, Stephanie and James headed to the community room for more informal yarning with early years educators, school staff and the Our Place team. From these discussions, all were able to learn about the important work that The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria is undertaking, discuss upcoming events and explore ways to continue to strengthen connections with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This yarn also provided the opportunity for Northern Bay college to present on the Camp Fire Conversation project that Northern Bay College has been selected to be a part of.

James and Stephanie said they were very impressed by the work being carried out at Northern Bay for both the children and the community. They have also linked the site to resources for Indigenous sports and activities that both the school and early learning centres can utilise. The day concluded with everyone agreeing that this was beneficial in many aspects and agreed that this would be the first of many conversations and collaboration opportunities.

Aligning with the Our Place Approach

This is one example of how we perform our role as ‘the glue’ to support good relationships and inclusive environments. The role of the glue aims to assist with the facilitation of and enable an integrated, place-based approach. Our Place is not a direct provider of services or programs. Our expertise is in building long-term relationships and coordinating the engagement, consultation, and data-informed planning that helps drive innovation and targeted service development. For more information about the Our Place Approach, CLICK HERE