“Proper deadly” - Student memories of adult education under Indigenous control, Tranby, 1980-2000

Oct 15, 2026

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Student voices about the early years of Indigenous-controlled adult education providers remain rarely documented. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 17 former Tranby course participants from 1980–2000, the study analyzes narratives alongside Tranby archival records from the first two decades under Indigenous Chief Executive Officers and Board Chairs. Additional interviews and informal teacher accounts illuminate learning goals, atmosphere, and teaching strategies, highlighting contextual and informal experiences that strengthened confidence and skills for later careers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

Tranby origins and co-operative model

Leadership shift in 1980

Community-controlled education and learning environment

“Proper deadly”: Student memories of adult education under Indigenous control: Tranby, 1980–2000 Heather Goodall1, Heidi Norman1 and Belinda Russon2 1 School of Communication, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, New South Wales, 2007, Australia, email: [Heather.Goodall@uts.edu.au](Heather.Goodall@uts.edu.au) [2](2 Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd)[ Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd](2 Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd), 13 Mansfield St, Glebe, New South Wales, 2037, Australia The voices of students about the early days of Indigenous-controlled adult education providers are hard to find. In historical research for Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd (Tranby) and the University of Technology Sydney, 17 former participants in Tranby courses, from 1980 to 2000, gave in-depth interviews, which were analysed alongside Tranby’s archival holdings for the first two decades under Indigenous Chief Executive Officers and Board Chairs. In addition, we interviewed one person first enrolled in 1979 and three enrolled between 2010 and 2013. Tranby drew students from across the country, with goals ranging from improving their literacy, to building skills for community roles, accessing further education or gaining promotion. Informal interviews with seven former Tranby teachers added information on subject design and teaching strategies. The former students’interviews focused on Tranby’s atmosphere and learning environment, strongly valuing the perspectives they learned from their fellow Indigenous students. Most felt that, while formal coursework was helpful, it had been these contextual and informal experiences which were most useful in building their confidence and skills for later careers. Keywords: adult student experience, schooling, racism, confidence, gender, co-operative “I’d just say it’s proper deadly.1” —Robyn a student in 1988, asked in 2015 how she would describe her enrolment at Tranby Introduction Although many Indigenous people experienced adult education through Tranby2 during its first 20 years under Aboriginal control, between 1980 and 2000, their memories are seldom heard. Historical publications about Tranby staff and about Aboriginal adult learning (Balnave & Patmore, 2012; 2015; 1 “Deadly” in Australian Indigenous English means “excellent”. In this paper, we use the terms ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Aboriginal’ interchangeably, but in each case, the term includes both Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. 2 The educational section of the Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd is now known just as “Tranby”. This paper will not capitalise “co-operative”as an adjective or common noun, but, in an organisational name,“Co-operative” will be capitalised. Most co-operatives were known as “coops”, with the hyphen showing the bi-syllabic pronunciation. Cook & Goodall, 2013; Loos & Keast, 1992), seldom include students. This project, Networking Tranby, aims to open up that space. Background Tranby began in 1957 as the Co-operative for Aborigines Ltd, founded by Anglican priest Alf Clint in an old Glebe house called “Tranby”. It was supported financially by the Australian Board of Missions (ABM) and by trade unions, many originating as craft co-operatives. In a co-operative, all members share any profits equally and all have the same voting rights. Many Aboriginal communities set up co-operatives (called “co-ops”) in the 1950s and 1960s to manage enterprises, such as small-scale fishing, farming or community stores. Aiming to empower Indigenous adult learners from rural co-ops, Tranby offered courses about managing co-ops and bookkeeping. Additionally, it housed a small hostel so rural co-op members could undertake apprenticeships in Sydney (Goodall et al., 2019; Loos & Keast, 1992) . Alf Clint worked closely with Indigenous communities, unions and church bodies interested in social justice. He also worked with Coady International Co-operative Instit

FAQs

What does the paper study about Tranby’s Indigenous-controlled adult education between 1980 and 2000?

It examines former students’ memories of the early days, using in-depth interviews with 17 participants from 1980–2000 and comparing them with Tranby’s archival holdings.

How were Tranby’s courses and goals described by former students?

Students reported aims such as improving literacy, building community-role skills, accessing further education, and gaining promotion.

Why were informal and contextual learning experiences considered especially valuable?

Many participants felt formal coursework helped, but the most useful learning came from the surrounding atmosphere and informal experiences shared with fellow Indigenous students, which built confidence and later-career skills.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Kurz