Aunty Diane Singh
Aunty Diane (Day-Walker) Singh is a Yorta-Yorta / Wemba-Wemba Elder with connections to the Taungurung people in Victoria and the Wiradjuri peoples of New South Wales.
Aunty Diane’s connection with Monash University goes back to the late 1980’s as firstly a parent of students, then as a student herself from 1990, following thirty years as a State Enrolled Nurse, when she entered the Monash Orientation Scheme for Aborigines, a program which ran from 1984 to 1992, at Monash University.
Aunty Diane entered the faculty of Arts, graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in History and Anthropology and a minor in Koorie Studies.
On completion, Aunty Diane gained a position with the Commonwealth Department of Education Employment and Training in Melbourne, a position she occupied for over six years, and later at the University of Ballarat, now Federation University as Koorie Liaison Officer for two years.
Aunty Diane later completed a Diploma of Community Services (Welfare Studies) at Chisholm TAFE in 2002, and a Certificate III in Indigenous Australian Language Studies at Gippsland TAFE in 2008.
Aunty Diane began working with the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies in November 2003 as the Community Liaison Officer with the Trust and Technology Project (T&T project) - which involved building an archival system for Indigenous oral memory, Monash University's School of Information Technology, Caulfield, the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Clayton and the Public Records Office of Victoria, where it was her responsibility to accompany researchers from Monash University into the community for the purpose of conducting a Needs Analysis, stage one of the T&T project.
Today she sees her role as the ‘Elder in Residence’ as an important link and knowledge base for staff, our Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and community members who frequent our Institute seeking local Indigenous knowledge.
Most importantly this unique position has given her the opportunity of meeting and engaging with the local Koorie communities, in particular our Indigenous youth in the schools, who are our future students and elders for the purpose of encouraging them to continue their schooling, by presenting them with a range of options for furthering their education.