Her passion for weather and climate is one that was born early on.

From the Wallara Clan of the Kokomuludji people, Gullara’s childhood was guided by parents who held deep cultural knowledge and would often explain how to read the weather and wildlife around them to identify changes.

With her father being one of the stolen generation and not being able to get an education until much later in life, Gullara and her four siblings were always encouraged to pursue studying wherever possible.

But living in the rural town Mareeba and often being the only Indigenous pupil in her science and maths classes, it was not always easy.

She said the social pressures of school and the reality of living in a rural town can be challenging.

But in 2019, Gullara was invited to join the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s Young Indigenous Women’s Stem Academy where she discovered she was not alone.

The award-winning program was set up in 2018 and has supported over 650 young Indigenous women to set up a successful career in Stem through mentoring, Stem camps and paid internships and creating peer networks as well asleadership and Stem opportunities.

“It’s just nice to know that someone’s there watching your back and if they find opportunities, they’ll shoot them your way,” Gullara said.

Much to her mother’s relief, Gullara eventually packed up her dreams of being a tornado chaser to pursue her passions through safer means.

When she was 15, she attended a drone camp in Cairns with She Maps to “get out of chores” at home, and two years later she won a drone tournament with teams she had trained and using equipment she had bought herself.

Gullara went on to use her skills as a drone pilot to cultural map and preserve cultural sites and help check on the regularly “escaping” sheep at home.

She is due to graduate with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law with a major in earth science next year and was awarded the 2024 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Achievement Award.

The Stem Academy retention rate almost triple the NT for Indigenous women in Year 8 to Year 12

Gullara was part of one of the first cohorts to join the academy in 2019 and will soon join the 102 young Indigenous women who have graduated from its ranks.

Territorian Melissa Tipo, partnerships, industry and engagement manager at the Young Indigenous Women’s Stem Academy, said the impact the academy has for many is life-changing.

“Currently the retention rate for young Indigenous women in the NT is only 33 per cent from Year 8 to Year 12,” she said.

“The Stem Academy has a retention rate of 92.4 per cent.

“For me as an NT woman growing up in NT schools, that is phenomenal.

“That’s the impact of the program. You cannot put a dollar amount on the support the young women receive to get through school.

“It means a better future for our young women.”

The First Nation Women finalist in this year’s NT Woman of the Year Awards said it helps create opportunities for young women be self-sustainable, bring back their skill sets to their communities and inspire the younger generation around them.

‘It’s very isolating being in Stem as a female’ the Stem Academy changes that

The Stem Academy, which is 100 per cent Indigenous led, is marshalled by a Steering Committee of four women who went through the academy themselves.

Keely Perry has been a co-chair of the committee for a year and a half and has received the Queensland Women in Stem Prize 2024 First Nations Stem Award – Highly Commended.

“We try to push what we think is important for the future of the Stem Academy and change the direction to hopefully continue it on for a very long time,” she said.

Coming from a cattle farming family in southeast Queensland, Keely had a keen interest in agriculture.

“I experienced a lot of weather events which caused emotional turbulence to farmers,” she said. “That was all my life as a kid so I really wanted to help and going to university was my way of doing that.

“I got to experience many different science fields and somehow I ended up in the right degree.”

Keely became involved with the academy when she was studying a Bachelor of Biotechnology at the University of Queensland.

Now studying a PhD, the 23-year-old said she had definitely benefited from the program and was passionate about ensuring it continued for future generations.

“It’s very isolating being in Stem as a female,” she said. “As an Indigenous female, it’s even greater especially in a rural remote area.

“To have a network that is national and made up of people who share similar values to you … and really push you forward, that had such impact.

‘Location should not be a barrier’

Keely will be joining a group of students, staff and steering committee members who will be going on a worldwide trip at the end of the year.

Kim Dyball, executive manager of the Stem Academy, has received the Frank and Helen Zobec Churchill Fellowship.

Kim said they will be visiting places in New Zealand, Canada, USA, Norway and Iceland to find out how different organisations are supporting young Indigenous women in Stem and share their learnings as well.

Explaining that Stem camps and the academy are always tailored to individual interests, Kim said it is all about offering opportunities to young women no matter where they are located in Australia.

“Wherever the young women are located should not be a barrier for them to access and to achieve their dreams,” she said.

“It’s an approach that we have that your current situation is not your final destination, and our role is to help young women get to their final destination.”

The future of the Stem Academy

The Stem Academy has been funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency from 2018 and is funded until 2028.

While Kim and Melissa said the funding had been “fantastic”, the end date means they cannot take on new students from Year 8 and 9 and are currently looking for partners, whether that be industry, philanthropic or government.

She added that the program has been independently evaluated and that an upcoming report shows the things that have been achieved by the program.

“It’s a proven model,” she said.

“Our dream is to attract enough funding to set up the Young Indigenous Women’s Stem Academy for perpetuity, so we won’t need to go and ask for funding ever again.”

Gullara, said if the academy is unable to secure more funding, her youngest sister in Year 7 who “can’t stop talking about jellyfish and marine biology”, will just miss out on the support and opportunities she herself received.

“I’d feel so sorry for her to miss the opportunities that the Stem Academy has given me to support her ideas and interests,” she said.

To find out more about the program or get in contact, click here.