Reliable and consistent access to education can open employment opportunities for people in a region where isolation imposes severe constraints. We catch up with Mamidal Wunungmurra, who is now blessed with work as a Yirralka Ranger.
Story by Janne Rytkönen
“We do burning around country, and look after sea and land,” said Mamidal Wunungmurra, indigenous ranger, taking a moment during a ceremony to chat. “That’s what we do in the rangers. That’s my job. It’s a good opportunity.”
Traditional burning is a land management practice of lighting controlled, low-intensity fires to clear undergrowth and mitigate the risk of uncontrollable bushfires. It also promotes new vegetation growth.
Indigenous rangers like Mamidal play a significant role in land and marine management, biosecurity control and border surveillance across vast tracts of remote territory in northern Australia, where their work combines traditional skills and knowledge with modern methods and technology.
Mamidal is a familiar face to the MAF team. He graduated from the Laynhapuy Homelands Schools Makarraṯa College programme in 2023. The programme provides education through a unique boarding school model that uses weekly MAF flights to empower Yolŋu students to complete their education in their isolated homelands region.
“We were just flying around when I was at school,” Mamidal said. “One adopted pilot is Ethan. We were flying with that man when I was at school. Ethan’s a nice pilot.”
‘Adoption’ is a Yolŋu custom of giving a kinship title to an outsider, showing acceptance and allowing people to relate to newcomers within the highly structured Yolŋu society.
I was flying around with MAF when I was in Makarraṯa school. It was good, and we prayed with MAF people.
Based in his homeland of Wandawuy, Mamidal works with the Yirralka Rangers, one of the main indigenous land and sea resource management groups in East Arnhem Land. He had the good fortune to gain this position straight out of school, in a region where paid employment is scarce.
In addition to a salary, the ranger job offers opportunities for professional development and nationally recognised certifications such as licences for boats and drones, which are used extensively in their work.
Mamidal flew weekly with MAF to attend school for several years, and thanks to the consistent access to education provided by the MAF – Laynhapuy Homelands Schools partnership, he successfully completed his secondary schooling at the end of 2023.
“I was flying around with MAF when I was in Makarraṯa school,” Mamidal said. “It was good, and we prayed with MAF people.”
MAF continues to provide vital connections in Arnhem Land and partners with education and healthcare services to bring help, hope and healing in practical ways that can develop beyond the obvious benefits of aviation.
