CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF MOONDANI BALLUK Victoria University has a long, rich history of commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in education, research, knowledge exchange and employment. The University’s Moondani Balluk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Academic Unit is committed to pursuing political and social justice, equity, and access to education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. CRICOS Provider No. 00124K (Melbourne) CRICOS Provider No. 02475D (Sydney) RTO Code: 3113 MOONDANI BALLUK ••• ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY Victoria University (VU) acknowledges the Elders, families and forebearers of the Boonwurrung, Woiwurrung (Wurundjeri) and Wathaurung (Wadawurrung) who are the custodians of University land and have been for many centuries. We acknowledge that the land on which we stand is the place of age-old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal, and that the Kulin people’s living culture had, and has, a unique role in the life of this region. VU supports the aim of Reconciliation Australia to build better relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the benefit of all Australians. CELEBRATING 10 YEARS ••• 3 MOONDANI BALLUK ACADEMIC UNIT Moondani Balluk means ‘embrace people’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people. Our vision for the Moondani Balluk Academic Moondani Balluk assists all students with: Unit is to create and foster: • ABSTUDY applications and other • A culturally sensitive environment that financial assistance welcomes, nurtures and recreates community • Course and enrolment advice based on relationship to land, culture, law and elders • Academic support through tutoring and mentoring, and use of computer and • Sharing of Aboriginal knowledge and to photocopying facilities integrate Aboriginal practices into its curricula, research and work • Access to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resource Library • Respect for all people through mutually engaged relationships • Social support through our campus locations, cultural awareness activities, community • A commitment to pursuing political and social organisations and events justice, equity, and access to education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people • Referral to counselling • Accountability to Aboriginal cultural values, • Referrals and support in housing and protocols and norms. finance matters • Career and employment advice through cadetships, work experience and job listings. All Moondani Balluk staff maintain close links and relationships with the Koori community, working closely with the Office of Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, Local Aboriginal Network, the Department of Justice Western Metropolitan Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee, the Department of Human Services Indigenous Family Violence Regional Action Group, local members of the Koori community in the western suburbs of Melbourne and Aboriginal statewide organisations. Find out more about the Moondani Balluk Academic Unit at vu.edu.au/moondani-balluk MOONDANI BALLUK ••• MOONDANI BALLUK INDIGENOUS ACADEMIC UNIT 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY The Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit was established on 12 February 2006. Karen Jackson, Director of Moondani Balluk, reflects on what the unit has achieved over the last ten years. There was a time 12 years ago when I sat on the steps And, like the protest song from Bart Willoughby that of the Moondani Balluk Unit and cried. A feeling of cries out We Have Survived the White Man’s World, hopelessness had descended as I faced yet another Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit has hurdle in my attempt to transform Moondani from survived and has achieved the remit that we were set a unit within the Equity and Social Justice Branch in 2006. We have expanded our work into areas of of Victoria University to the stand-alone Indigenous research and interdisciplinary teaching and learning Academic Unit it is today. The constant challenge so that we engage in productive interaction between of working within the dominant framework of the colleagues, and challenge the University’s ways of University meant that it took three years of paperwork working, learning, teaching and researching. being shuffled up and down the management chain We have made these advances in the system with to gain agreement on the new structure. But finally it committed Aboriginal staff; we have mentored our happened: the then Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman Aboriginal graduates and employed them at the signed the agreement and the new unit was born. It is University where we could; we stand up to the system 10 years since that agreement was signed. And today that still tries to make us bend into it; and we share I no longer feel that sense of hopelessness. our knowledge even when we fear it will be ridiculed What I find constant and reassuring about Moondani and misunderstood. We stand tall against ignorance Balluk – which means ‘embrace people’ in Woiwurrung that has shown itself in our classes – and indeed – is our inherent ability to create and maintain a strong, among University staff – and we retreat into the vibrant and diverse community within the space and culturally safe space of Moondani Balluk where place of the University. This community refers to the we can talk through and subdue feelings of trauma many aspects of who we are – all Aboriginal and Torres from being told our lives are not important and our Strait Islander staff and students within VU, the Elders, teachings are not true. Traditional Owners and local Aboriginal and Torres We are brave. We are blak. We are connected to Strait Islander people who reside in the west. In embracing country, ancestors and Elders. We know who we are. people we also create and enjoy our relationships with We have survived. other sovereign peoples and non-Aboriginal colleagues with whom we are able to share our knowledge and We will continue our work for the next 10 years to space while we work inside the University. make a stronger impact on the systems and processes of the University. We will continue to work with the Our remit in 2006 was, and still is, to help the University local and traditional owner communities in and of increase access, participation, success and retention the western suburbs of Melbourne to give them the rates for Indigenous Australians. We do this through opportunity to succeed at Victoria University. For me, targeted initiatives, continued delivery of Indigenous personally, I am still heartened by the work within student pastoral care, and close engagement with the University that staff and students from outside Indigenous communities and relevant organisations. Moondani Balluk do, particularly those who participate We offer a focal point and resource for academics freely and equally with us, and more particularly those researching and teaching Indigenous issues, and who learn with us and alongside us. People wonder teaching degree units to all students. why I am still here in this job and I always say I’m here The past decade has seen us sway and adapt to the many because my job is to continue to open this institution’s changes inside the University, while coping with the ebb door for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I and flow of loss and hardship experienced as Aboriginal will continue to do this until the day comes when I don’t people, buffeted by a political landscape of ever-changing have to challenge the system to value, recognise and Aboriginal affairs, policies and programs that intervene support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our communities and deposit us into a deficit model. and our cultures. I think we can get there … with you. CELEBRATING 10 YEARS ••• 5 INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION STRATEGY VU is committed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in education, research, knowledge exchange and employment. Key policy initiatives include: • Establishing the Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit in 2006 • The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Acknowledgment Policy • Participating in the Toorong Marnong Victorian Vice-Chancellors Committee (VVCC) and Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI) • Implementing the Wurreker Plan in collaboration with the Victorian Government • Implementing the Yannoneit Employment Strategy. In 2015, VU’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student population numbered 223 – only 0.7% of the entire student body. As a result, our Indigenous Participation Strategy was created to ensure that: • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student and staff participation in the VU community reflects the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the national population • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieve the same successful outcomes as non-Indigenous students • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff achieve the same career success as non-Indigenous employees. Find out more about our Indigenous Participation Strategy at vu.edu.au/indigenous MOONDANI BALLUK ••• ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDY OPPORTUNITIES At VU, we value the contributions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of society, and recognise the need to enhance the level of opportunity available to them. We encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to apply for any of our courses, and we support them during their studies. VU has many courses you can choose from at undergraduate and postgraduate