One of the criticisms voiced against Aboriginal Residential Colleges such as Yirara is that we “take the students away from their culture”. I don’t necessarily agree with this comment for a number of reasons.

Aspects of life at Yirara suggest to me that male and female students who attend could in fact be exposed to more traditional Aboriginal culture than they would normally experience at home. This, of course, applies to some communities more than to others.

Yirara College is in its second year of conducting an Aboriginal Studies course for its students. During this course students have the opportunity of

a) Learning to read and write their own language.

b) Learning traditional and contemporary Aboriginal skills.

c) Learning about other non-Centralian Aboriginal groups and native peoples from other cultures.