Marrung

Indigenous Education

Swan Hill College is committed to ensuring quality education and support for all of our Koorie students. This includes being a culturally safe place, standing up against racism, embedding Indigenous perspectives from the curriculum into our teaching and learning and implementing the Marrung – Aboriginal Education Plan.

The Marrung – Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026 is a Victorian Government initiative that all Government schools are mandated to follow and implement. It outlines several initiatives to improve both the educational and wellbeing outcomes for Koorie students as well as better educating all students on Indigenous history and culture.

Marrung is the Wemba Wemba word for the Murray Cypress pine tree, representing branches of education and knowledge.

The vision of Marrung is that Victoria will be a state where:

• the rich and thriving culture, knowledge and experience of our First Nations peoples are celebrated by all Victorians
• our universal service systems are inclusive, responsive and respectful of Koorie people at every stage of their learning and development journey
• every Koorie person achieves their potential, succeeds in life, and feels strong in their cultural identity.

In 2025 the College has appointed two staff members (Morgana Russell and Brianna Dale) to be ‘Marrung Leaders’ to head up initiatives to implement the Marrung policy and organise more celebrations and cultural incursions and excursions. We are very excited to be working in this space and putting time and energy into creating more opportunities for Koorie students and upskilling the teaching and learning of Indigenous perspectives.

Some of the things we will be working on in 2025 include; auditing our curriculum, analysing student data, planning events, creating a Koori Working Party and beginning to formalise our processes for creating Individual Education Plans for Koori students as outlined in the Marrung policy.

We have also created a dedicated space called the ‘Marrung Room’. The plan for the room is multi-faceted, it will be used for staff to meet and work on projects, running meetings or workshops with students.

This is a space in which the College is still learning and growing but we are committed to bringing about better outcomes every day. We endeavour to gain more community input and voice in this space so if you would like to get involved, please reach out to the school.