Napurrurla Yamurna Nancy Oldfield is our Assistant Principal at Yuendumu School and one of the founders of our Learning in Country program. Her Jukurrpa is Perentie from east of Yuendumu, and her knowledge of Jukurrpa all around our community is deeply respected. Her favourite country is Yajarlu, to the south, where she loves to tell the story of a mother and her baby.

Napurrurla learned from her mother, grandparents, and paternal uncles from Ngalikirlangu, Yajarlu, and Mijirl-parnta (Mission Creek). She now carries that knowledge forward by teaching our students out in Country. There, she helps them learn about where they come from, whose country they are on, which skin groups belong to that place, and the Jukurrpa that connects them to the land. Yamurna works tirelessly, with the guidance of her mother Ruth Napaljarri, to identify the many hundreds of special places that our students and teachers need to visit and learn. She will often be seen on weekends checking Jukurrpa sites, speaking to community members and hunting, in preparation for upcoming LinC trips with school classes.

Napurrurla is well known for her dedication to the children of Yuendumu, a true expert in-class and in-country. Napurrurla says “Out bush is the best place for kids, its Aboriginal way. Kids listen carefully and they learn”, tapping her heart as she speaks.

Tommy Jangala Watson is a Senior Warlpiri Educator who has worked at Yuendumu school for over 30 years. He is from Puyurru, to the west of Yuendumu in the Tanami Desert and is proud to hold the creation stories of his country, where spinifex plains stretch as far as the eye can see. Jangala is a source of knowledge and wisdom for all that he meets and his mind map of Warnayaka (North Western Warlpiri) stories is deeply respected by people across Australia.

Jangala was taught by his grandparents, who passed down knowledge of country, kinship, and Warlpiri ways. Today, he continues their teaching by taking students out in Country, helping them learn about the places that belong to their grandparents and ancestors. Out bush, he teaches the children to speak strong Warlpiri, to know their country, and to remember the stories and Jukurrpa that have always guided our people.

As a founding leader of Learning in Country, Jangala has been central to shaping how the program connects school learning with Warlpiri knowledge. He guides students, teachers and other school leaders in how to learn the right way in Country. He says it’s important that the kids know their land “forever,” so the knowledge of the old people continues for generations to come.

Enid is a Senior Warlpiri Educator in the Learning in Country program, taking up the role after Tess Napaljarri Ross. A speaker of four languages, Enid has spent many years teaching Warlpiri language and culture through schools, interpreting work, women’s cultural programs, and learning in Country. Deeply committed to passing on knowledge to the next generation, Enid loves taking children out bush so they can learn by walking, listening, exploring, and seeing Country for themselves.
An important foundation for Enid’s teaching was formed during her years living and working at Wayililinpa Outstation for Yuendumu School. In that Yapa-led bush school setting, teaching and learning was grounded in Warlpiri authority, and Enid taught Warlpiri language and culture in a way that grew directly from everyday life in country. Those years at Wayililinpa remain some of the most important in her life, shaping the educator she would become and laying the groundwork for the cultural teaching she would continue through Yuendumu School, Nyirrpi School, and the Learning in Country program.
Enid’s Jukurrpa is Ngapa (Water Dreaming), her father’s country is Mikanji, and her mother’s country is Mount Theo or Puturlu. She was taught by her mother, aunties, and grandmother. Through them, Enid learned about hunting, bush foods, bush medicine, important water places, and the stories carried by those places. Her mother, a strong teacher and expert Wardapi (goanna) hunter, showed her how to find and prepare foods such as yarla (bush potato), ngarlkirdi (witchetty grubs), and yunkaranyi (honey ants), and also taught her how to thread seeds for dancing.
Enid is especially passionate about teaching young girls so they can grow strong in their understanding of Jukurrpa and Yawulyu- women’s song, dance, and ceremony. She loves teaching children about the responsibilities of kirda (the owners of Country) and stories from the old days about how Warlpiri people used to live. Enid speaks with real joy about what happens when children are given the chance to learn out bush. She loves it when “kids are exploring the country, finding different things, different from the community.” Reflecting on a recent trip to Walyanmardi (Water Dreaming), she said, “They can see the water, but they don’t see water here in Yuendumu, only at Big Dam. And the water is clear in the creek's bush.” Enid also says, “I love teaching and helping kids to understand and know their own culture.” Her love of Country, language, and children is at the heart of everything she shares.