Student Impact V2

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Student Impact V2

Throughout Tranby’s 65 years of operation and community leadership, we have proudly seen thousands of students walk through our doors and leave as graduates; stronger, more confident in their abilities, and more grounded in their cultural identity.

Tranby’s long history of making change happen is a direct result of our students’ passion, strong determination, and love for their communities. Once a student graduates, they take their newfound knowledge and skills back into their community and walk with a stronger resolve and purpose to lead change for their mob.

A ripple of change effect is created by this collaborative community leadership, which is a traditional, cultural way of learning that we inherited from our ancestors. Embedded within this approach is an ethos of reciprocity, of sharing knowledge. Tranby maintains this cultural-educational practice through pride, connection, and an attitude of lifelong learning. We walk this journey together with our students and alongside our communities.

In the Footsteps of Giants

Bernice Hookey

Proud Waanyi woman from the lower Gulf of Carpentaria Graduate of Tranby’s Certificate of Indigenous Business Governance

Currently working:

As an independent business consultant for her own business – MZBempowerment

Giving back to community by:

Mentoring young girls and women through Tranby’s Yanalangami: Strong Women, Strong Communities program

“What amazed me about Tranby was the history – there is so much hidden within those walls. It made me think about all the other inspiring people that had been there before me. People like Oodgeroo Noonuccal walked through here, and it was empowering to think of her legacy and how she changed things, not just for women, but for the entire community.”

Tranby’s campus stands on the unceded lands of the Gadigal peoples. We honour Australia’s first peoples and their continuing connection to culture, through incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing, learning, doing, and being into our approach to education.

This cultural learning practice is made more powerful by the guiding spirits of Aboriginal leaders and thinkers who have walked the Tranby learning journey before us, forging a path to ensure our self-determination. These inspiring leaders, such as Kevin ‘Cookie’ Cook and Faith Bandler, nurtured and contributed to the vital knowledge of our peoples and the life-changing power of education and training by mob at Tranby, with mob and for mob.

Tranby Changes Lives

Leslie Atkinson

Graduate of Tranby’s Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies

Giving back to community by:

Thousands of students have come to Tranby unsure of whether they had the skills to succeed in further education. Our team and community Elders know that if a student walks into Tranby with an open mind and determined to learn, they have what it takes to succeed, regardless of their previous education.

“I never envisioned that I would attend a college for further education ... It’s amazing you know, I didn’t even have a school certificate. Left school at fifteen ... Without Tranby, I don’t think I’d be where I am today.”

Success Looks Different Here

“I have never done any study in the past – expelled at grade 9. I was incredibly self-conscious of my impending failure. On top of that I was incredibly afraid and intimidated at first, I never felt I fitted in with anyone. Yet the Staff [at Tranby] immediately showed me that I was one of the mob. No issue was unsolvable as long as I did not give up. If in doubt YOU JUST NEED TO ASK. I really wish I can start again; it went too fast.”

Patrick Condon

Proud Kamilaroi man
Graduate of Tranby’s online Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies

Giving back to community by:

Success is defined by you. Are you hoping to finish your course and receive a diploma qualification? Are you looking to upskill and grow your confidence? Or do you want to connect to Culture and Community? Whatever your educational goal, Tranby’s team is ready, at every stage, to support you.

We know that not everyone’s need for support is the same. Our student-focused approach treats everyone with respect, trust and honesty, to ensure that your Tranby learning journey helps you achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Connect to Community

Morgan Miller

Descendant of the Kaantyu peoples, far North Queensland
Graduate of Tranby’s Diploma of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Advocacy

Giving back to community by:

When arriving at our campus, you can feel the difference. You walk into a place of Aboriginal-led management and Blak excellence.

Our team prides itself on delivering incredible education programs that are meaningful to the lives of our peoples and their needs. Our learning materials include First Nations knowledge, experiences, and ways of doing. While studying, you’ll be connected to Community through your trainers, classmates, excursions, and learning materials. By sharing stories, we learn together.

“… As Aboriginal people, we’re so connected to Country, to the land, to the water. Tranby offers another opportunity to feel connected. And it just, it meant that it took you away from a white dominated space and took you into a Blak dominated space. And it just, it felt so much better to be able to just separate the two and just be who we are as people and not have to put on this façade for you know, the white man. I just, I think it's important for the heart and the soul and the spirit to be able to do that.”

Learn for Community

“It’s not just about going into a classroom and sitting down and learning, there’s that connection on so many levels. And you’re with other Aboriginal people – some who are like me, who didn’t grow up Aboriginal, others who have had their lifetime from the moment of birth growing up within that culture. So there’s that sharing, that connection … I don’t know if people know how powerful that is when you’re in my situation, how much that actually gives you, and assists you in remembering your identity.”

Kate Wood-Pahuru

Proud Aboriginal woman living on Wonnarua Country in Muswellbrook, Hunter Valley
Graduate of Tranby’s Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies

Currently working:

Earth Medicine and Cultural Connection

Giving back to community by:

Working with her local mob to heal country through cultural burning and cultural practice

Our courses and programs are designed by and for Indigenous peoples. This core difference is what makes Tranby’s holistic learning model so effective for our national Indigenous community. Tranby’s courses are created to meet community needs and provide our mob with the skills, knowledge, and leadership necessary to give back and bring about change in our communities.

Culturally Safe Environment

Leslie Atkinson

Graduate of Tranby’s Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies

“The environment, with mob and the people there, it’s just amazing. There’s a lot of humour, a lot of laughter … I was thinking about this last night, you know, what is it that sets it apart – and I think that’s it, that environment. It’s a little cultural space, a cultural safe space. From signage out the front to some of the paintwork around.”

Education as Wellbeing

Patrick Condon

Proud Kamilaroi man
Graduate of Tranby’s online Diploma of Applied Aboriginal Studies

“I’ve come to understand how and why our people have so badly lost their way and wandered into darkness and worse. Definitely, my mental health has taken a huge turn for the better. The answers to questions that have been torturing me my whole life have finally been answered …”

Our community needs safe cultural spaces like Tranby to share, learn and heal together. Healing cannot be achieved without truth-telling. Through learning about history and culture here, our communities become stronger.

Education provides a second chance to many of our mob. Achieving a diploma gives people the skills to get a job. Cultural education gives them the confidence to hold their heads high, with their feet firmly grounded in Country. Tranby gives them a welcoming family, a community, where they will always belong.

Tranby creates a safe place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults to return to schooling after what may be months or years. Our key to success is cultivating a safe place to try, fail, and learn new things.

We teach through culture, which grows student confidence grounded in identity and pride.

The value of culturally appropriate and supportive learning environments for our mob shouldn’t be overlooked. Structured programs that EDUCATE, ACHIEVE and EMPOWER Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, create sustainable change for individuals, families, and communities.