Walanga Muru Reflection - COVID-19 and a Community Approach to Indigenous Higher Education Success at Macquarie University

On the 21 March 2020, Walanga Muru, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander space at Macquarie University, transitioned to a fully digital community as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. Walanga Muru’s success is grounded by our ability to form relationships and connections, guided by Aboriginal values, perspectives, shared experiences, and aspirations. These connections allow us to share journeys with our community members contributing to overcoming challenges, highlighting opportunities, and together celebrating success. The successful transition to a digital community where students and staff felt engaged and connected, academically, culturally, socially and emotionally was paramount. Quickly we adopted the catch phrase, ‘still strong, still deadly but online’ and commenced on a journey that will change the way we do things forever more. Through reflections from staff of Walanga Muru, this paper tells the story of how we responded to developing this digital community in this challenging time.