Cameron’s goals for the future of education

Cameron is a proud Darumbal Gangalu man living and working on his country in Rockhampton QLD. He has been with our Indigenous Scholarship Program (ISP) since the very beginning, in 2022, and has come such a long way. He recently completed his Bachelor of Education! 

Cameron is very passionate about the work he does, and it really comes through during sessions with his mentor, Taryn. Taryn said that whenever he speaks about the work he is doing he lights up. 

He is currently teaching year 7 students at Glenmore Primary in Rockhampton but his dreams don’t stop there.  

“I want to be part of a change in education, I don’t know exactly how I will do that yet, but I know that I want to. I don’t want to be bogged down by assessments, marking, and sending behaviour reports home to parents. I want to put effort into my students’ education for the benefit of everyone, including teachers.” 

As the only Indigenous male teacher at his school, Cameron has noticed that there are not many Indigenous educators and really wants to push for more mob to join programs like JCU’s RATEP.  

“Within the first week of starting here I had a lot of the Indigenous kids coming up and introducing themselves to me, they appreciated seeing someone who looks like them on staff. I think there is a definite need for more Indigenous educators.”  

“I know there are efforts being made to make schools more inclusive for all cultures, but it needs to be real and authentic, not just tokenistic gesturers.” 

Cameron is keen to work in remote locations and wants to put in the time and effort to make some big changes to the education system for our current and future Indigenous students.  

His mentor Taryn has faith that Cameron will make big changes, “I believe he is in the perfect position to make change, and I trust with the right support around him he will make big waves of change to the education system.” 

“Cameron makes me so proud, knowing that our younger generation are in safe hands with people like him supporting and teaching them through their high school journey.” 

A huge congratulations to Cameron. We cannot wait to see your deadly work come to life in the future! 

The Indigenous Scholarship Program, delivered by the Waalitj Foundation in partnership with Shell’s QGC business, aims to increase First Nations Australians with tertiary and trade qualifications. The program is facilitated by local First Nations mentors who utilise their contextual and cultural understanding to provide individual mentoring for each participant. For more information about the Indigenous Scholarship Program, click here.