Reflections from Cape York

The email invitation from Karyn Baylis CEO of Jawun read:?“We are delighted to invite you to join us for Jawun’s commemorative 20th Anniversary Visit to Cape York. In Cape York alone, more than 1200 secondees from many corporate and government partners have supported numerous Indigenous organisations, sharing their skills to progress Indigenous-led initiatives in employment, enterprise, education, and leadership. It is a unique chance to experience the power of the?togetherness?of the model – proudly Indigenous-led, working with communities and corporate/government partners to deliver community benefits, while also driving a practical form of reconciliation that contributes to a better nation.”

Armed with a short information pack, with handy hints (weather, mobile coverage, luggage requirements and first aid), bios of attendees (including business and community leaders such as Noel Pearson – Founder of Cape York Partnership and Patron of Jawun, Karyn Baylis – Jawun CEO, Peter King – Westpac CEO, Peter Warne – Chairman of Macquarie Group, and Patrick Forth Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group) and a detailed itinerary over three days from early morning starts to late evening finishes (including a fireside yarn), there was little else to prepare me for what would lie ahead…

We were told it was all about listening, learning and immersing ourselves in the magic of the Hope Vale experience.?So I accepted the invitation with an open mind and a feeling that I was truly stepping out of my comfort zone…

Day 1

Our first day started with a breakfast forum discussion in Cairns, where we heard from regional leaders from Cape York and Jawun partners to reflect on the evolution of the region.?We heard real heartfelt insights from people who grew up in Cape York, relaying the challenges they faced in the community as young children due to the negative effects of alcohol, gambling, welfare dependency and unemployment, which eroded fundamental values and behaviours in their communities.

The extent was highlighted by one leader, Maureen, who passionately described how she ran away from home one night as a young girl and hid in a tree as she could no longer live in an environment where alcohol was adversely impacting the behaviour of her family. Unfortunately, her experience was not unique; a whole generation of children were leaving primary school with a Grade 2 equivalent education, and couldn’t compete with children entering secondary school with a grade 6 qualification.?This hard hitting and confronting forum set the scene as we embarked on a flight to Hope Vale to experience first-hand the community, where the ‘girl in the tree’ grew up.

It was an uneventful flight from Cairns to Hope Vale, with impressive glimpses of the Daintree and Great Barrier Reef through the clouds.?We were warmly welcomed by members of the local community in the award-winning Hope Vale Arts and Culture Centre.?This was my first introduction to the Aboriginal community of Hope Vale – 46kms northeast of Cooktown, population 765 and local language of?Guugu Yimidhirr.?In stark contrast to the personal stories I’d heard in the morning, it was hard to imagine this community could experience any social unrest; in fact it was welcoming, peaceful and orderly.?It wasn’t long however until the new visitors were thrown well and truly out of our comfort zone following a performance from some of the local school children, who showcased a dance routine they had been practising for a forthcoming expo.?The laughter and excitement from the children was infectious and overflowed to the new visitors as we were all encouraged to perform “badly” in front of our peers, including imitations of the kangaroo, the gnarly old man, the eagle…

In the afternoon we regrouped at the Council Offices to hear from Noel Pearson, who grew up in Hope Vale, co-founded the Cape York Land Council (CYLC) and played a key role in negotiating the Native Title Act in 1993.?Noel walked us through the history of land tenure and why the CYLC was created.?We also had the opportunity to experience some initiatives in progress to support welfare reform in aboriginal communities.?It was inspiring to see some of these ideas put into action and already having immediate impact, such as:

• the Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC), empowering a group of community leaders to address a wide variety of behavioural issues, such as low school attendance; and
• Mayi Market, to encourage families to pre-order food deliveries encouraging healthy diets, budgeting appropriately and creating certainty of supply.

We finished the day with a dinner and fireside chat with an open debate of the challenges faced, the positive change that is occurring and how through the Jawun partnership, businesses can continue to support a social change model that is sustainable and can be scaled.

Day 2

After an overnight stay at Cooktown we returned to Hope Vale with a heightened level of excitement and an increasing sense of optimism that the experiment of social change at Hope Vale was indeed having a positive impact.?It was a day of going back to school and started with breakfast with the kids, including a performance from the school band (percussion, brass and string instruments in stark contrast to yesterday’s performance), a visit to each of the classrooms where we learnt about the Direct Instruction method of teaching from Bernadine Denigan, the CEO of Good to Great Schools Australia.

Within six months, the program has taken the rating of the Hope Vale school from poor to fair in the efforts to plug the education gap as children compete for educational opportunities when they head to the city to get a secondary education.?Attendance has also increased to above 85%, supported by an engaging curriculum program of language, dance arts and sport, together with the efforts of the FRC. The aspiration to leave no kid behind is truly evidenced through the early intervention initiatives in action at Hope Vale School.

We spent the afternoon hearing from members of the community about how they’ve worked together to create positive change and how this approach can be effectively rolled out to other communities.?This platform is critical to help raise a common Voice from Indigenous Australians to obtain the necessary support from government, businesses and communities to empower Aboriginal communities to build and roll out a sustained model to accelerate change.

Following a short return flight back to Cairns, we were treated to an informal dinner at the Art Work Spaces building where we were met by a number of Aboriginal children and young adults who are currently or had successfully gone through the Cape York leaders program.?It was encouraging to hear many of the students were focussed on achieving tertiary qualifications so they can return to their communities to support education, health or other areas of expertise, and give back to building a sustainable model of self-sufficiency.

Day 3

Our final day started with another early start, spending the morning at the Cape York Partnership offices for a discussion on the future challenges the organisation leaders face and the significance of the Indigenous-led reform in Cape York.?Finally, we discussed what we’d seen firsthand over the last three days and reflected on what we had learnt. I personally left with a sense of optimism and hope. Whilst the challenges remain significant, with the connections between corporate Australia, government, Jawun and Indigenous bodies in Australia such as Cape York Partnership, Cape York Land Council, Good to Great Schools and many others, there is now a proven model in Hope Vale that is making a positive and tangible impact.

KPMG and Jawun

KPMG has been a key partner of Jawun for more than 10 years and we continue to place our highly skilled people in secondments with Indigenous organisations, sharing our expertise and helping Indigenous leaders achieve their development goals.?Through Jawun, KPMG secondees focus their professional skills to build capacity in Indigenous organisations and businesses. Jawun is unique and transformative – secondees engage in experiential learning, be immersed in Indigenous culture, undergo accelerated professional and personal development and strengthen leadership skills.?

Fun facts:

• Jawun means ‘friend’ in the Kuku Yalanji language.
• The word ‘kangaroo’ [Gangurru in?Guugu Ymidhirr?language] was recorded by Joseph Banks during their time when the Endeavour run aground on Hope Islands, off the coast of Cooktown.