Yothu Yindi Foundation
In 2015, the University of Melbourne established a significant partnership with the Yothu Yindi Foundation in Northeast Arnhem Land. This was forged in response to the Maak presented to the Vice-Chancellors of Australian universities by Galarrwuy Yunupingu AM, Chairman of the Yothu Yindi Foundation. The Maak - a message or profound importance that seeks an outcome and a way forward - challenged universities to build an understanding of Yolngu intellectual traditions and establish a firm basis for the sharing of these.
The Yothu Yindi Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that strives for Yolngu and other Indigenous Australians to have the same level of wellbeing and life-opportunity as non-Indigenous Australians. Under our second RAP 2015-2017 and through the strategic partnerships it promotes, University committed to support Indigenous social, economic and cultural advancement with and for the communities they serve.
As part of Reconciliation Action Plan April 2018 - December 2022 (RAP 3), the University of Melbourne has again committed to the Yothu Yindi Foundation Partnership by making it a Signature Project that will promote a program of work focused on culture, leadership, education, health and research. This program will involve:
- continued support and engagement of the annual Garma Festival;
- implementation of a teaching program across Northeast Arnhem Land, in partnership with the Northern Territory Department of Education;
- partner to improve oral health outcomes in Northeast Arnhem Land; and
- engagement with Yolngu people with regard to the University's cultural collections.