Sharing Place, Learning Together: Mutual Capacity and Partnership Building

Sharing Place, Learning Together (SPLT) is a cross-disciplinary education project that aims to develop the English and Science literacy skills of remote Aboriginal students. The project comprises an interdisciplinary team from the University of Melbourne (UoM) partnering with Maningrida College and the Djelk Rangers (Bawaninga Aboriginal Corporation) to support the College’s ‘Learning on Country’ program. Through cross-cultural exchanges and ‘on country’ visits Aboriginal biocultural knowledge is integrated with Western scientific understanding to develop curriculum and literacy resources. This paper details SPLT’s evolvement and discusses activities and learning experiences the partnership has generated. Linked to the project’s development, the paper presents the findings of a research study that investigated mutual capacity and partnership building between the Maningrida College Community and UoM. These findings reveal that relationship-building, coupled with a sustained presence in the community, were critical to strengthening the partnership, and highlighted that establishing trust and credibility must precede research initiatives