A Yolŋu language innovator is set to receive a national award from Australia’s leading body for improving outcomes in higher education for Indigenous people.
Senior lecturer in the Yolŋu Studies program at Charles Darwin University, Waymamba Gaykamanu will be one of only five Indigenous innovators to be presented with the 2010 Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (IHEAC) Award for Elders and Leaders in Higher Education.
Waymamba has been intimately involved in the development of the Yolŋu syllabus, text books and extensive audio-visual learning materials since her appointment to the then NTU in 1993. Before her tenure at CDU she spent many years teaching on Milingimbi Island, close to the western margins of Yolŋu country.
Each year the IHEAC presents awards to Indigenous elders and leaders who have made a significant contribution to Indigenous higher education in Australia.
Waymamba will receive a 2010 Elders Award in recognition of her life-long contribution to the sector and for the advancement of the Yolŋu culture and agenda.
She will receive the award at a dinner in Sydney in early November.
The IHEAC provides policy advice to the Australian Government on higher education, research and research training issues in relation to Indigenous higher education students and staff.