From the Pymble Institute
It has been a privilege to welcome Dr Debra Dank to the College this week as the inaugural Pymble Institute Fellow. Debra is a Gudanji/Wakaja woman whose Country is in the Barkly Tablelands in the Northern Territory and her celebrated book, We Come With This Place, tells stories of this beautiful place. Debra’s scholarship in language, literacy and semiotics brings many opportunities for staff professional development and Pymble has been incredibly fortunate to benefit from Debra’s teaching this week. Debra’s experience as a primary and secondary teacher makes her contributions especially dynamic as she deeply understands schools and has enjoyed spending the week learning about our community.
The following list gives an indication of the range of things a Research Fellow can contribute to a school.
- Being part of welcoming yarn with students and staff at the College’s Yarning Circle
- Participating in a Q&A at Assembly with English Captains, Julie Sheng and Bella Walker, who asked Debra about her book and the question asked of it in the recent HSC Advanced English paper
- Joining the Pymble Ethics Committee to discuss Indigenous research methodologies
- Working with the English Department to explore texts by Indigenous authors, Aboriginal English, writing, and the important concept of mankujba
- Assisting Year 12 Aboriginal Studies students with ideas for major works
- Sharing the story of her PhD, writing, methodology and Country with the Education Journal Club and Junior School Research Club
- Visiting Mrs Anderson’s Year 2 class to explore English language and storytelling
- Being guest of honour at the Pymble Staff Book Club, hosted by the Conde Library team, to discuss her book, We Come With This Place, which has just been nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
With Debra’s mentorship, the Pymble Institute is embarking on important research into the experiences First Nations ex-students who are now in post-school education and careers. We have been exploring the possibility of conducting research using narrative methods. It has been a privilege to meet online and face to face with ex-students from areas all around Australia and overseas to hear of their success in areas including speech pathology, medicine, entrepreneurship, art and design, and education, as well as parenting, community work and maintaining responsibilities to family and Country.
On behalf of the Pymble community, we extend our sincere thanks to Dr Dank for her generosity, kindness and wisdom as she has opened many eyes to issues which are important to Pymble and all the communities within our College. We look forward to staying in touch and continuing to learn together.
Sarah Loch
Director – Pymble Institute