Our Story
Gawura was established in 2007 by St Andrew’s Cathedral School in response to systemic underachievement and the clear disparity in educational outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The Head of School at the time, Phillip Heath, along with Pastor Ray Minniecon and Sharon Minniecon, and the original taskforce saw the need to close the gap, and in doing so, brought the Gawura vision to life.
Gawura stands for our school’s commitment to reversing the overwhelming educational disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which exists across the whole country. As a day school in Sydney’s CBD, St Andrew’s Cathedral School demonstrates its commitment to this challenge by offering a unique, culturally enriched educational journey to Indigenous students who live in the CBD’s neighbouring suburbs.
The aim of the program is for our Gawura students to achieve educational outcomes equal to (or better than) their non-Indigenous peers. Our mission is to break the entrenched cycle of disadvantage experienced by Indigenous children by providing them with the best opportunity for educational success, a choice of direction for the future and a foundation upon which they can build for the rest of their lives.