Town campers lead on Country learning

For proud Arrernte women, Darelle McCormack and Brianna Foster, working as Senior Youth Workers at Tangentyere Council is a family affair.

Leading cultural bush trips as part of the Council’s Town Camps Youth Hub, they are helping kids in their community connect to their culture through nature-based activities that bring Elders, parents and children together to learn on Country, about Country.

The aunty and niece duo from Nyewente Town Camp in Alice Springs, also known as Trucking Yards or ‘Truckies’, get to pass on knowledge they learnt during their own upbringing on Country.

‘Our grandmothers taught us important things like bush medicine and how to find bush tucker and now we’re teaching our kids,’ said Brianna, whose own children, and Darelle’s, attend the trips along with other relatives.

‘The bush trips are important because they teach our kids about their culture so they don’t lose it,’ added Darelle.

The Town Camp family bush trips have been running weekly since January 2023 through Tangentyere’s Indigenous Youth Connecting To OUR Culture program, which is supported by the Australian Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy’s Indigenous Youth Connections to Culture Program.

The bush trips run more frequently during school holidays as part of Tangentyere’s school holiday program, which includes a vast range of events and activities across multiple town camps in Alice Springs and additional services in the CBD.

Through all Tangentyere youth initiatives, Aboriginal organisations and the community come together to improve engagement with youth, strengthen connection to culture and bolster community safety.

The Town Camp family bush trips are an example of how investment in community-led activities guided by local knowledge can make a difference.

‘The bush trips take the kids minds off going into town and on learning how to do things on country,’ said Brianna.

Darelle also sees the rewards of the program. ‘Being out in the bush is cleansing, it’s peaceful, and it feels good to take people out to your country.

Youth and Community Safety Coordinator, Shoshannah Oks, said the bush trips, which run across different town camps in Alice Springs, have dual benefit.

‘Mob get to spend alone time on their country, which is a special experience.

But the bush trips also provide opportunities to bring town camps together and for town campers to get to know different mob.’

For Darelle, teaching kids from other places about her country is a special experience. ‘It makes us feel proud, and our kids are proud too.’

With most of Trucking Yards’ community members from the same family group, the bush trips mean kids and young people are learning from people they know well and look up to.

As Trucking Yards first youth workers involved in Tangentyere’s Town Camps Youth Hub, Darelle and Brianna have seen the positive influence their roles have had on their community.

‘We try to be good role models and we’re showing the kids that there are opportunities for them too,’ said Brianna.

This influence has been evident with a growing number of local young people going into youth worker roles at Tangentyere and more than half of Youth Hub workers now from Trucking Yards.