Founding Director’s Welcome

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The future of our community is bright and full of promise thanks to the generosity of our wonderful donors and supporters. We had another fantastic year in 2019 and I hope, as you read through this annual review, you feel inspired by the positive journeys you have helped create for our Indigenous children and young people.

We are committed to enacting generational change through education and in partnership with our ‘Yalari family’, will continue to change outcomes for present and future Indigenous Australians. Empowerment and education of children is the foundation and purpose of Yalari.

Thanks so very much for the belief in our educational ideal of making a positive change in the lives of children, young people and young adults who will be the game changers, the influencers and the drivers of a better Australia for us all. They can do this because we all believe in them, their abilities and what they have in front of them for the future.

There can be no greater gift than for your life to have meaning beyond yourself. Thank you.

Waverley grew up in the rural Queensland town of Murgon and attended the local state school. It was here that his teacher, Mrs Rosemary Bishop, recognised Waverley’s potential and helped him obtain a secondary school scholarship to attend Toowoomba Grammar School. Waverley’s life was forever shaped by the quality education he received. In recognition of this opportunity and with a strong desire for generational change, Waverley, his wife Llew Mullins and a group of like-minded individuals, founded Yalari in 2005 and established the Rosemary Bishop Indigenous Education Scholarship Program. Years on, he still travels across Australia, personally selecting children for the program. Waverley was recognised in the Australia Day 2019 Honours List and was appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for “significant service to the Indigenous community through support of education”.

It’s about all of us working collaboratively as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people for the same common goal of educating and empowering Indigenous young people.