Adelaide’s Max Michalanney Toby Murray and Charlie Edwards had an experience of a lifetime when they travelled to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands earlier this month.
The players, alongside Crows staff and Adelaide Crows Foundation educators, visited Pipalyatjara, the most remote community the Club has visited, to deliver the Crows Foundation’s Crows on Country program, a tailored, culturally inclusive education program.
The program aims to translate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ love and passion for AFL to increase school attendance and literacy in science and mathematics.
Players and staff helped deliver the practical component of the program, which included probability, measurement, graphing and reaction testing and spent time with the students learning Pitjantjatjara language, which involved a Pitjantjatjara spelling bee and nursery rhymes.
As temperatures reached up 42 degrees, players and staff supported the school with water play at the local community pool and spent their evenings playing games with the kids on the school grounds.
Michalanney, Murray and Edwards were also immersed in a cultural experience out on Country, collecting Maku (witchetty grubs) with students, teachers and Anangu educators.
"It's been really eye opening to come out here, I've loved every minute of it especially sitting in the classroom with the kids and learning the local language," Murray said.
"It's a privilege to be welcomed into the community and spend time with the students and teachers and the broader community, I've never experienced something like this which has been great.
"We were able to get a couple of runs in while we were here too, training alongside the local airstrip just out of town so good to be able to roll the legs over as well before preseason starts in a couple of weeks."
The visit was the fourth that the Adelaide Crows Foundation has made to the APY Lands this year, with another four trips planned for 2025.
The trip was made possible thanks to the support of the Anangu Communities Foundation and Bibbulmun Fund.
The Anangu Communities Foundation is administered by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia - operators of the Ayers Rock Resort.
"For over two decades, the Anangu Communities Foundation has remained steadfastly committed to building community capacity in healthcare, education and economic and social participation amongst the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we operate at Ayers Rock Resort, Uluru," CEO of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia Matt Cameron-Smith said.
"We're thrilled to able to partner with the Adelaide Crows Foundation and their innovative educational Crows on Country program, opening up future career pathways and ultimately helping to empower a growing Indigenous workforce."
