Bathurst Wiradyuri & Ngiyeempaa Elders at CSU

Gulaay in association with the Faculty of Science is very proud to announce that in July 2019 Aunty Beryl Philp Carmichael will be on the Bathurst campus at CSU giving a plenary at the 2019 Australian Society of Sport History Conference. For Conference details see http://sporthistory.org/2019-sporting-traditions-conference/#1541554190702-69fd716e-c0fa

Aboriginal woman wearing a hat and holding  a stick
Aunty Beryl Yungha-Dhu Philp Carmichael

While Dr. Carmichael is here we will be celebrating the launch of her CSU published book In the Footsteps of a Ngiyeempaa Elder. At the same time the newly refurbished Bathurst Wiradyuri Elders Rooms will be officially opened in the week of 1st-5th July. 

Aunty Beryl Philp Carmichael (whose traditional name is Yungha-Dhu) was born and grew up at the Old Menindee Mission, New South Wales. She attended school there until the age of twelve. Most of her life was spent on stations in the top end of New South Wales until 1966, when she and her family moved to Menindee Township. She became active in Aboriginal community affairs and education, and has held a number of public positions. These include founding member of the Western Aboriginal Legal Service and the Alma Bugdlie Pre-School in Broken Hill. She was actively involved in the State Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, and was also an Aboriginal Language Support Officer advising the New South Wales Board of Studies. In 2004 she was awarded the New South Wales Department of Education and Training’s Meritorious Service to Public Education Award. She has also been awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal for devotion to cultural awareness and contribution to Australian society. A documentary about her life, called Aboriginal Culture in the Murray-Darling Basin: Aunty Beryl’s story, was made in 1996 and reproduced by Gulaay, Charles Sturt University in 2012 in recognition of the important role she plays in Charles Sturt University’s learning and teaching community.

The Bathurst Wiradyuri Elders are honoured to have the launch of Aunty Beryl’s book in the same week that their rooms will be officially opened by the University. The Ngiyeempaa and Wiradyuri have a long-standing traditional association that goes back for thousands of years. More recently, they have undertaken the care of CSU Indigenous staff and students and others as part of their cultural responsibility as the acknowledged traditional owners and knowledge holders who have the cultural authority to speak for country.

Contributed by Dr Barbara Hill, Indigenous Curriculum & Pedagogy Coordinator and Academic Leader of Gulaay Indigenous Australian Curriculum and Resources team.