Yuelamu community works with Mount Allan school on creating new uniforms featuring skin names

Students at a Red Centre school have received a new uniform with a special meaning – and it’s got one community feeling ‘very proud’. Find out why.

The Yuelamu community have collaborated with the Mount Allan School to create new uniforms for the students featuring four Anmatyerr skin groups. Picture: Supplied

Students at a Red Centre school have been involved in a special project which has the whole school – and the community – “very proud of the end result”.

Mount Allan school, located in Yuelamu (280km northwest of Alice Springs) recently unveiled new uniforms, designed by the students and integrating skin names.

School engagement leader Vaughn Hampton said the students were “very involved” in the project of designing the new uniforms.

The new uniforms for the students featuring four Anmatyerr skin groups. Picture: Supplied

“All kids, teachers and community are very proud of the end result,” he said.

The shirts represent the four Anmatyerr skin groups, and were designed by both students and staff as part of the school’s skin name project.

Skin names are integral to kinship systems in Central Australian Aboriginal cultures, and determine “how people relate to each other and their social, ceremonial and land-related roles, rights, responsibilities and obligations” the Central Land Council website states.

In 2017, Lajamanu school completed a similar project, with the community, students, and the school creating uniforms featuring skin names.

The new shirts were unveiled during Mt Allan school’s NAIDOC week celebrations, which featured traditional dancing, cultural sharing, painting, and a community lunch.

Originally published as Yuelamu community works with Mount Allan school on creating new uniforms featuring skin names