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Yulara Child Care Centre BY CAROLIN WENZEL Imagine living and working in one of the most remote locations in central Australia. One day you are visited by a local sand goanna named George, and the next HRH Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, drop by.
T
hese are the extremes of daily life at Yulara Child Care Centre, in the town that services the Ayers Rock Resort. It’s situated 26 km from Uluru in Kata Juta National Park near the Mutitjulu community in the Ngaanyatijarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara NPY lands of the Northern Territory. Yulara the town is run by the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, Voyages Ayers Rock Resort. Most people in the town work at the resort in hospitality, retail, emergency services, the airport or at the health clinic. “The Yulara community is transient and very international,” explains Yulara Child Care Centre Director Renata Harris. “People come from Europe, the UK, the Philippines and South East Asia to work at the Resort. We have two visiting doctors and remote area nurses. There’s also a small primary school
with 40-60 children from preschool to year 6. After that they join ‘school of the air’, or go to boarding school.” Having established relationships many years ago, Renata knows the Mutitjulu community well. She also set up and ran a community creche at Docker River (two and a half hours drive west of Yulara) before taking over here eight years ago when her daughter, Olivia, was two years old. “Since Uluru and the Park were handed over to the NPY communities, and the Resort established an Indigenous Training Academy, Aboriginal employment has risen from just 1% to around 40%. So, at the Child Care Centre we now have children from the Mutitjulu community and also from indigenous staff who have come from other states to work in the national park and the resort.
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“When I first got here in 2011, only two of the 25 children were Aboriginal. There was no acknowledgement of country and no cultural artefacts or local artwork. One of the first things I did was to revamp the foyer to make if feel more respectful of place,” says Renata.
RESPECTING PLACE The children were invited to choose Aboriginal art from the local gallery and art auctions to decorate the space. The centre now has a beautiful painting of the Seven Sisters – the dreaming story of the Southern Cross – by a local Mutitjulu artist, and another of a sand goanna. “When we take the children out walking, we teach them the local words in language for the animals we see, read about or sometimes even get to eat,” explains Renata. “Tjala is the word for honey ants and Maku is witchetty grubs.”