UNCLE DION BARNETT

Uncle Dion Barnett is the son of a Wulgurakaba woman and currently lives on the lands of the Yuwibara peoples in Sarina, Queensland. He has completed a string of diploma level courses and holds a Bachelor of Education.

Dion first came to Tranby as a student of the Diploma of Governance course. With his long history of training Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and having the right training qualifications and experience, Tranby employed Dion as a trainer. Dion began as a trainer at Tranby in 2014 and became known for being very present and caring with the learning journey of each student. His courses included Governance, Community Development and Applied Aboriginal Studies (an accredited course owned and developed by Tranby).

For many years Uncle Dion travelled from his home in Queensland down to Sydney to the Tranby campus on Gadigal Country. This was for a week at a time, five to eight times a year per course, often training two or more cohorts of students each year.

When COVID-19 arrived, Tranby had to start delivering all courses online. Dion dedicated time and attention to the development of our online delivery, graciously adapting to training and assessing students via the online delivery model. He sourced subject matter experts and guest speakers for interview style videos, for a more human provision of online course content that clearly aligned with qualification criteria.

Uncle Dion gave highly valued input to courseware development for the qualifications that he delivered. We deeply valued his contributions and his 'eagle eye'. Dion was instrumental in maintaining currency and relevance of information as well as the all-important cultural elements essential for Tranby’s exclusively First Nations’ cohorts.

Dion's care with feedback to students in their assessment work was simply beautiful. He spent additional time mentoring students to achieve nationally accredited qualifications but staunchly ensured that students completed on their own merit. He went out of his way to hold repeat sessions when circumstances prevented students from attending practical assessment and role play sessions, both in face-to-face delivery and online. Dion’s dedication, care and attention was just as potent in the online classroom as it was in face-to-face training.

Dion's mentoring of other trainers who were not as experienced gave our course delivery an assurance of quality. Along with the technical and compliance aspects needed from trainers, he also imparted the importance of nurturing and remaining present for each student, as well as for each cohort as a whole.

Through solid adult education principles and cultural inclusion, Dion always told his students: 'I also get to keep learning from the experiences that students share in class'. This ongoing learning was one of the reasons why he continued delivering courses well past retirement age.

Dion kept abreast of relevant ‘industry’ information regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance through his role as Director on the board of the Mudth-Niyleta Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation, in his hometown of Sarina. Dion could be heard over the airwaves on My105.9FM as a member of Mackay and District Aboriginal and Islander Media Association (MDAIMA).

These appointments and other community involvements ensured that Dion had his finger on the pulse of the issues facing First Nations’ communities. This enabled him to deliver up-to-date training for the Governance, Community Development and Aboriginal Studies courses.

Closing the Gap and self-determination are two overarching themes of the major issues confronting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The only area listed in the Closing the Gap reports that has made progress is education. The qualifications that Dion Barnett trained and assessed were directly associated with empowerment and enabling self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.

At the end of each module of study, Tranby asks students to complete an anonymous feedback survey, including questions about a range of program areas and materials. Dion received consistently exemplary feedback in these surveys. We also received unsolicited student comments that echoed the same sentiments, via email and at events such as graduation celebrations. Dion has always, deservedly, received many words of gratitude and admiration.

After 11 years of working with Tranby, Uncle Dion Barnett retired in 2025. We thank him for his incredible service and dedication to the work we do.

I find each student is unique and enjoy seeing them form bonds of friendship and how they support each other throughout the course of study and beyond. Working with students has been a rewarding experience, since being at Tranby and prior to my Tranby experience. However, as educators, we need to be committed to the tasks at hand especially when their experiences of education are so varied, be they from primary school, secondary or tertiary levels. I've always found that I gain a great deal of information from students through what they share in class. This enables me to gain an ever-broadening understanding of what's happening out there in First Nations’ communities across the country. This keeps my perspective current and relevant, which I am able to translate through continuous improvement processes for course materials and in training delivery. – Uncle Dion Barnett, 2024