64 / 76
When Pete Goss, School Education
Program Director for the Grattan
Institute, formerly of BCG, went
on a Jawun secondment to Cape
York Partnership in 2011, the
organisation ended up getting
a two-for-one deal: Pete did a
secondment and his wife Sarah
worked for Noel Pearson at
Cape York Partnership. Sarah
explained: ‘I’d been working in
the development sector and was
very passionate about going
and doing something.’
Pete, Sarah and their three boys,
aged 10, eight and six, moved
to Cape York for an extended
secondment period of nine
months. ‘The experience certainly
impacted both of us and our kids,’
said Sarah. ‘It gave them a real
insight into the privilege they’d
been born into and the challenges
and opportunities out there.
They went from a little school in
Melbourne with no Indigenous
children to attending a state
school in Cairns. It sharpened their
sense of justice and injustice.’
When Pete and Sarah returned
home to Melbourne they felt
‘inspired and challenged about
how we could continue to
contribute. We wanted to bring
that experience to other children’.
In 2013, Sarah arranged for a group
of 24 children and their families
from Alphington Primary School
in Melbourne to visit Cape York
for a week. A highlight was the
time that they spent at Hope Vale
Primary School. ‘We had families
come back and absolutely rave
about it,’ said Sarah. ‘It wouldn’t
have been possible without the
support we had from Jawun and
the time we’d spent up there in
community.’
From that initial visit, a sister
school relationship was
established: on alternate years,
Alphington children travel north
and Hope Vale children travel
south. ‘When the kids from Hope
Vale came down, that’s when it
became clear how transformative
it could be,’ said Pete. Sarah
agreed: ‘Just to see the kids’
faces—it’s exciting on both sides.
They’re exploring a new culture
from a positive perspective.’
The ripples created by the
Alphington–Hope Vale relationship
have spread beyond the Goss
family and the two schools. ‘After
the most recent trip I had other
schools asking me about setting
up sister school relationships,’
explained Sarah.’ It’s starting to
build its own momentum, which
is fantastic. Because it’s the kids,
it will be that generation who’ll
be able to really further the
reconciliation message.’
A transformative friendship
between schools
CASE STUDY
Steve Raynor, Head of Organisational Effectiveness
& Change at QBE, participated in an Executive
Visit to the Central Coast of New South Wales in
2014. He reflected: ‘The experience was something
I could take back to the office, to have better
informed diversity and inclusion conversations.’
Jaimes Adlington from Westpac said he wanted his
work colleagues to gain a deeper understanding
of their local Indigenous communities. ‘I took my
team out to a community day at La Perouse. Chris
Ingrey, the CEO of La Perouse Local Aboriginal
No one comes back from a Jawun
secondment without stories to tell of the
complexities and challenges Indigenous
people live with, the successes and
how life really is. That has to be a great
force for good.
TRISH CLANCY,
PRINCIPAL AT BCG,
EAST KIMBERLEY 2011
54