Legacy, giving and community keep the fire burning for proud Dagoman man
From the outback town of Katherine, Northern Territory, a young boy who had tenacity, fortitude and a mother who always said, “you can do it, never give up” is now a leading First Nations academic dedicating his life to giving back to his community by giving them a voice and embedding their knowledge.
As Associate Professor in First Nations Studies at CQUniversity, Dr Gary Fry said that growing up with a fond love of sports, a strong work ethic and a hardworking family, he enjoyed a rich life – “you don’t have to have much to be rich”.
It was from his time working as an electrical contractor in a remote community that he saw the joy of students in the nearby school grounds, where the idea sparked to become a teacher. With a persistent thought six months on, and a belief that he could do whatever he put his mind to, Gary took the step that would chart a new trajectory for himself and those to come.
Garnering a decade of experience in remote schools, and another ten years in urban schools, he spent the majority of his time in school leadership, holding Principal and Senior Executive roles, seeing his students winning multiple awards, and witnessing one of the schools achieve the highest acceleration of numeracy and literacy in 2010.
But struggling with governmental red tape and seeing that the educational rights of First Nations People were still hitting a wall, Gary had a fight and a hunger to do, and achieve more.
“I found myself asking – what were the things we needed to do in our system to improve opportunities for learning, for our children?
“I spoke to so many people but it all kept falling on deaf ears and so I decided to become an academic and hopefully do something about these issues,” Assoc Prof Fry said.
“It’s something I never thought I would do, as I struggled with writing in school, but now, a large part of what I do is write about these issues.”
Completing his PhD and winning the 2021 University of Sydney Medal for Higher Education and Academic Excellence, the Sister Alison Bush Medal for contributions to Indigenous community development, marked the transition for Gary out of schools and into the academic world.
“My main reason for moving out of teaching in schools was to elevate my voice, for our people; for my family and those that came before and after.
“The goal of my work at CQUniversity includes the embedding First Nations knowledge and concepts to establish a strengthened culture of ‘belonging’ in education, so it is systemic in its design across the university where this is reflected in curriculum and teaching practices at all levels,” Assoc Prof Fry said.
Gary explained that consistent and sustained efforts are what can help to make a visible difference:
“Sometimes you don’t see the net effect of those changes straight away, but what you see is a capacity building, a foundation, which then leads into strengthened pathways to community development, for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous; it helps to break the social tensions – and it helps to create role models. We can only succeed when we have a clear understanding of our cultural identity and how that transcends from the present and into the future, and how First Nations cultures are pivotal to an Australian society finding its national identity and morality through its unstable journey into the future.”
“Here at CQUniversity, we have seen an increase of First Nations student enrolments, but course completion rates are way too low – and it’s those completion rates that are so significant to improve upon.
“Take for example, in 2023 we had just under 1000 enrolments in higher education alone. Now if you can think in the next 10 years if the vast majority of those completed, you’re looking at close to 10,000 First Nations graduates.
“Imagine what that would mean to our First Nations kids growing up who are looking at their parents and so many First Nations people who are meaningfully engaged in either employment, or training, educating themselves – that would be a major win for me.
“We’re all given the opportunity in life to do something, and there is nothing more honourable, I think, than living a life where you are helping community.
“A life that’s lived by giving to others is a life worth living.”
CQUniversity is proud to celebrate NAIDOC Week activities right across the campus footprint, championing the national theme ‘Keep the fire burning!: Blak, Loud and Proud’. View more information for your local area via the NAIDOC website.
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