Bright-eyed youngsters from remote communities ready to give boarding life a try - Herald Sun

GREAT CHANCE: Juren Stanley, 12, Ratu Davui, 13, and Jamika Kelly-Wirth, 12, ham it up in front of The Southport School at an orientation camp run by Yalari, which provides scholarships for indigenous students. Picture: Tim Marsden Source: The Courier-Mail

THERE were wide eyes - a few tears of trepidation - when dozens of indigenous children gathered at The Southport School for a taste of boarding school life.

Aboriginal kids from as far as Arnhem Land and Cape York attended the orientation camp run by Yalari, an organisation that provides scholarships for indigenous youngsters to board at Australia's top private schools.

The aim is to give the children the best education possible to try to end the cycle of social problems affecting many indigenous Australians.

Founded by former Education Queensland indigenous support officer and ex-Redcliffe Dolphins rugby league star Waverley Stanley, Yalari started with just three scholarship recipients in 2006 and is now putting more than 200 students through schools, including TSS, Churchie and St Margaret's in Brisbane and The Scots College in Sydney.

The $4 million-a-year scholarship scheme is bankrolled by corporate sponsors, institutions and supporters including Brisbane rock icons Powderfinger, who performed an exclusive mid-air fundraising concert for Yalari as part of their 2010 farewell tour.

Yalari's Gold Coast headquarters was ravaged by fire last year but it is back on its feet.

As many of Yalari's first graduates prepare for their second year at university, a group of "newbies" is gearing up to start boarding school.

The five-day camp at TSS gave them a glimpse of boarding school life that Mr Stanley, a Toowoomba Grammar School graduate, said was both exciting and daunting.

"A lot of the kids are from rural and remote communities and you could see their jaws drop," he said. "Many of them didn't wear shoes or a uniform to school where they're from, so to come to a boarding school and have to wear blazers and follow strict timetables is a big adjustment.

"We've had a few tears from some of the younger ones away from their families for the first time but all the other Yalari children are here to support them."

Among the past and present Yalari students helping the new arrivals settle in is Kyol Blakeney, who is studying teaching at the University of NSW after graduating from The Scots College in 2011.

"For me, it's about making the most of the opportunity I was given and showing that Aboriginal people are not the uneducated, unemployed, drug and alcohol-addicted stereotype we are often portrayed as," he said.

"Many of the kids come from those sort of troubled backgrounds but they're here because they want to be educated."

Mr Stanley said boarding school gave him a great start in life and he wanted to give indigenous youth the same chance.

"They deserve to be at these schools, getting a good education and helping change a generation," he said.