Classroom and Connections: Third Djӓkamirr Training and Relational Research in Action
- Dr Sarah Ireland
- May 31
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 1
Yolŋu Country, Northern Territory, 31 May, 2025.
In partnership with the Womb to Tomb Foundation, we’ve just wrapped up two rewarding weeks in Galiwin’ku, delivering our accredited djӓkamirr training to a third inspiring cohort of Yolŋu women. We were thrilled to welcome two previous trained djäkamirr into the classroom to share their stories and support the new djäkamirr. This included senior djäkamirr and ancestral knowledge expert, Helen Guyupul Wunungumurra.
Photo credit: Sarah Ireland. (L-R) Top, Trainers accomadation; Sarah & Guyupul arriving in Galiwin'ku. Bottom: Team preparing for training; Renee and Caper the gentle camp dog revising training plans.
What made this round of training especially powerful was the high level of interest and engagement from participants - even before the training began!
Many women had already been connecting with our team by attending djäkamirr events including a perinatal ceremony- bringing energy, curiosity, and commitment that shaped the training from day one. Sh'ana Constable- Djäkamirr Coordinator- and Kaite McAdam- Logistics, Administration and Support Officer - did a terrific job preparing the students and managing the very large of pile of paperwork that needs to be completed for enrolment......the 100 points of ID, Enrolment Form, Consent Form, Bank Account, Scholarship Form, Abstudy Form and so many more!
Photo credit: Sarah Khaw. Sh'ana Constable and Kaite McAdam.
This time, we had the privilege of delivering the course in the comfort and privacy of the Galiwin’ku Women’s Space (GWS), a welcoming place that added a real sense of ownership and calm to the learning environment. A special mention goes to Kasey, who kept us fueled with café-quality brews from the new barista-grade coffee machine. GWS is a Yolŋu-led service focused on contributing to improving the lives and wellbeing of women experiencing domestic and family violence.
While the coffee machine brought an unexpected (and very welcome) touch of luxury to the training, the week wasn’t without its classic challenges. On Friday afternoon, right on cue, the fuel pumps went out of order just as our car’s empty light came on. As if that wasn’t enough, the second car that we were renting decided it was the perfect moment to get a very flat tyre. Nothing like a bit of logistical chaos to end the first week.
Photo credit: Sarah Ireland. Preparing learning resources for training with Renee Adair from the Womb to Tomb Foundation and the empty fuel lights on.
While this was our third experience delivering the accredited djӓkamirr training, it marked a significant milestone—our first hosted in partnership with the newly formed DJÄKAMIRR Co-op Ltd.
This collaboration reflects the growing strength of Yolŋu-led initiatives in maternal health and adds momentum to our shared vision for culturally safe, Yolŋu-led care.
Photo credit: Pip. Djäkamirr students, trainers and support crew.
With every delivery of the training, our materials, workbooks, resources, and lesson structures; are reviewed in real time and refined. This iterative process paid off, resulting in a strong rhythm and flow to this round’s learning activities.
Photo credit: Sarah Ireland. Djäkamirr participating in roleplay during the training.
We’re incredibly proud of our bespoke, culturally responsive learning tools, developed to support meaningful cross-cultural knowledge exchange. Highlights include:
Video Resources filmed especially for the training at Nhulunbuy Hospital by our project's skilled videographer Pat Josse, featuring the talented Yolŋu educator and researcher Rosemary Gundjarranbuy;
Pregnancy Beads, a visual communication aid to discuss pregnancy duration, trimesters and growth/care milestones;
Handmade, weighted teaching dolls that show the size and weight of babies born at different gestations: 25-week-old Kia, 34-week-old Grace, and full-term Bob the Big Bubba.
When we pass these teaching babies around the room, the care and natural skill of Yolŋu mothercrafting is so obvious. There are moments when I forget we’re not holding a real baby, the tenderness, instructive gentle talking, and instinctive wrapping in blankets are so genuine.
But theses dolls are more than teaching aids—they help tell the story of the high rate of preterm birth in Galiwin’ku and the many modifiable risk factors djӓkamirr can help address in their community-based care.
We celebrated the end of training with a bush picnic on the land set aside for the future Yolŋu Birth and Healing Centre, a powerful and symbolic way to end our time together. It was a privilege to witness intergenerational knowledge exchange in action, with Elders, young women, and children sharing stories, laughter, and visions for the future. There was a deep sense of purpose in the air, a collective determination to create a place where Yolŋu babies, not yet conceived but already dreamt of, will one day arrive safely, surrounded by culture, care, and connection.
This is what hope looks and feels like.
Photo credit: Sarah Ireland. Bush picnic to celebrate the djäkamirr training with lots of roo tail, damper and roasted root vegetables cooked to perfection in camp oven and a stunning sunset.... and Milo the camp dog kept us company too.
Meanwhile, our research team continues to work carefully and intentionally, gathering evaluation stories from djӓkamirr and their clients. These stories are vital, they help shape culturally safe service provision and build a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the impact of Yolŋu-led care.
Researchers Rhoda Durkay and Sarah Khaw are leading this work and are building a research practice grounded in relationality: not just gathering data, but cultivating trust, kinship, and mutual learning.
As a non-Yolŋu researcher, Sarah reflects on the essential role Rhoda plays in guiding the research approach:
I had spent time working with Rhoda in Darwin and here in Galiwin’ku, and she has helped—and continues—to refine the Yolŋu Matha interview guides. Rhoda helps translate Balanda academic language into dhäwu [story] that Yolŋu can understand. She balances her knowledge and insights between two worlds in research practice.
Photo credit: Sarah Khaw. Rhoda refining Yolŋu Matha interview guides
Rhoda, a Yolŋu researcher, describes how she draws on gurruṯu- kinship systems- to build meaningful connections with the djӓkamirr and pregnant women they interview:
We are trying to get information from them—try getting out what they got in there, inside. We are trying to build that relationship with them so they can tell us about their experiences… Because they (Yolŋu) know. Every—you all know that—and they connect. With us, with Yolŋu, Yolŋu all want to connect with Yolŋu and you can talk to one another by your own way. Balanda are only to support the organising, technical stuff.
Together, Rhoda and Sarah have written a statement of connection and intention that guides how they work—a powerful example of research that is not only ethical but relational, respectful, and rooted in culture:
Our clan group is Wangurri.
My Mukul [aunty] is Rhoda and I am her Gäthu [niece].
Our colour is green. We are both Yirritja [moiety].
My Mukul name is Goluŋ which means the sunset when it gets red.
My Mukul names me Djurrpuṉ which means evening sun - the important connection between the earth and the stars.
Together we work as a team getting the djäkamirr and yothumirr miyalk dhäwu [pregnant woman's story].
My mukul leads the interviews in Yolŋu Matha. I watch and observe.
Mukul helps to navigate between two worlds so djäkamirr and yothumirr miyalk can understand what questions we are asking – to understand what it means.
We ask questions carefully, slowly, clearly – thinking before asking.
Stop, think, and then ask.
In every step of this work- training, research, partnership - we are witnessing what it means to walk together with deep respect for Yolŋu leadership, knowledge, and cultural authority. This is careful, grounded, and transformative work and we’re honored to be a part of it.
With gratitude to Dr Sarah Khaw for her assistance with this blog post
Learn more with these links
Womb to Tomb Foundation (formerly known at the Australian Doula College)
Colleagues
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