Background
The World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) was established in 1987 to bring together knowledge-keepers and communities from around the world. Today it is one of the biggest Indigenous academic conferences in the world.
The event in 2025
Kicking off with a pōwhiri (traditional Māori welcome) at The Cloud on the Auckland waterfront, WIPCE 2025 welcomed more than 3000 Indigenous delegates from all over the globe. Deep respect to Māori as tangata whenua (people of the land) and for laying strong foundations for a week of connection, collaboration and cultural immersion.
The pōwhri was followed by the parade of nations, a beautiful display of Indigenous cultural attire and performances. An electric energy filled Auckland's city centre as all delegates marched, sung and danced representing their respective communities.
In one of the evening breakout sessions it was great to hear from Tamara Pomery, an Indigenous woman from South Australia. Tamara is working with The University of South Australia on a digital archive initiative "Proppa Stories".
Proppa Stories demonstrates a collaborative approach to storytelling and historical preservation, using culturally informed and community-led story telling methods to capture stories of Aboriginal people. Proppa Stories will also act to be a digital archive for story telling, meaning the stories shared will be able to be passed on for generations to come.
Tamara explained that the project was co-designed with Aboriginal elders and emphasised how important it is to engage respectfully with Aboriginal people. She highlighted that mainstream storytelling and digital archives are important because:
"(digital archives) decide whose knowledge is important and whose knowledge matters"
This was a part of the reason why wanted to partake in the initiative, to provide a model for integrating Aboriginal knowledge with digital preservation.
Tamara left the audience with an important message to think about with Proppa Stories:
"(Proppa Stories) is more than an archive... it is a demonstration that Aboriginal knowledge systems are living frameworks that can guide our collective future"
Sharing space, thoughts and energy with Indigenous people from all over the world at WIPCE was once in a lifetime experience. One of the big takeaways of the conference was that whilst we, as Indigenous people, have distinct cultures and practices – there were still so many overlaps with both the challenges and aspirations that we have.
I found myself sitting in breakout sessions and reflecting on my own journey and that of my community. In those moments I felt how special it was to be able to support and learn from one another through our shared experiences. I come from The Kimberley in Western Australia, a region in the world with some of the most heartbreaking suicide statistics amongst our young people. At the conference I was drawn to sessions related to addressing intergenerational trauma and self-determination, because in my view that is what is needed in The Kimberley. For a long time I have been passionate about Indigenous youth mental health, life promotion and positive social and emotional outcomes for my family and community. At WIPCE it was great to get insights from other Indigenous people on models of care and frameworks for addressing mental ill health within their communities.
Now back in Australia, a quote that stuck with me from distinguished Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith in her keynote focusing on education systems and practices was:
“We (Indigenous people) need to think about excellence in the terms of aspirations we have for our people”
A truly remarkable and unforgettable week.
Tyron Bin Hitam-Keeffe