Mylor offers refuge to Anangu people impacted by COVID-19 restrictions
A ‘red dirt school’ has been set up in Mylor to provide emergency care to 51 indigenous people from the APY Lands, stranded in Adelaide by coronavirus restrictions.
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A group of indigenous students from the APY Lands has found refuge in a small Hills town after being stranded in Adelaide by coronavirus restrictions.
About 13 children, aged two to 16, and their parents and relatives, have been housed at the Baptist Care Adventure Camp in Mylor since March, when biosecurity restrictions took hold in South Australia.
It prohibited Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people from returning to their home communities in the state’s remote north.
With the help of state educators and Iwiri, a cultural organisation for Anangu people living in Adelaide, a makeshift “red dirt school” was set up at Mylor, where students have been filling their day with cultural programs, including lessons in their first language.
The school week also includes an afternoon of traditional dance (inma) and cooking roo tails and damper on the open fire.
UniSA’s associate director for regional engagement Sam Osborne, who helped bring the project to life, said the initiative had helped to raise school attendance rates of APY Land students.
“The idea of this education program is to ensure they can continue learning,” he said.
“Through a group called Walk Along in the Education Department, and by directly going to the APY principals, we’ve been able to map the kids’ attendance back to their own schools.
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“A couple of schools have also sent us what they want kids to work on.”
Iwiri founder Tjulyata Tjilya said the initiative had provided a safe place for more than 50 Anangu people.
“We are all from different communities in the APY Lands ... and those who live in Adelaide ... so it’s been great to come together and stay here as a family,” she said.
“It’s been a great place to wait and be safe before we go back to our land.”
The Anangu will return to their communities once restrictions are lifted.