Curtin scholarship clears a pathway for healing

Moorditj Yorga scholarship recipient, Renna Gayde.

A Curtin student who spent years working through her healing alone is watching her path unfold into a career helping others heal their trauma.

At the end of this year, Renna Gayde, a Walbuja Woman from the Yuin Nation in New South Wales, will start her career in social work, with the goal of healing the relationship between the social work profession and First Nations Peoples.

Renna says that after family violence led to her being displaced from her home at age 13, she had some difficult dealings with social workers, and felt that she never had a genuine opportunity to attend high school, let alone university.

“A few years ago I was invited to visit Curtin University, and when I stepped into the Centre for Aboriginal Studies, I felt that I’d come home,” she says.

Renna completed an Indigenous Tertiary Enabling Course before gaining a Moorditj Yorga scholarship from Curtin and commencing her studies in social work.

“I lost my partner nine years ago, and as a sole parent the scholarship allowed me to breathe. I think that worrying about money reduces our capacity to be our best selves and to engage fully with our opportunities.

“Gaining the scholarship increased my confidence and validated that I was on the right path. I never believed that I’d go to university, but it’s proven to be an investment in myself, my children and my community.”

Moorditj Yorga means ‘strong woman’ in the Noongar language of Western Australia, and it is a fitting description for Renna’s journey. She explains that her educational journey to becoming a social worker has involved pulling the threads of her life together, and that she is “under construction” in building her ‘professional’ identity.

“I do feel guided by my old people, and I’m grateful to the Noongar Elders who have wrapped their arms around me. I know that when I go to bed grateful and wake up prepared, I’m exactly where I need to be.

“I’m following my path as it unfolds, but social work is my calling – to create positive change, particularly for our women and children.”

To learn more about Moorditj Yorga and other scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, click here.

This article was originally written and published here by The West on 3 July 2023.

___