When an Aboriginal Australian girl graduated college in 2016, her grandfather, an Aboriginal elder who lives on a remote island, traveled almost 2,000 miles to attend the ceremony and danced with her.
Thursday, 13 Mar 2025
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According to ABC News Reporter Margaret Burin:
Aboriginal elder Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi flew to Victoria from Elcho Island to perform at the graduation of his granddaughter, Sasha Mulungunhawuy Yumbulul.
Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi speaks limited English, mostly conversing in traditional language of the Galpu clan.
He says “proud” as he touches his heart.
His wife Jane Garrutju translates the rest.
“It was his dream, to dance with his granddaughters here,” she says.
He has flown down from remote Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island in north-east Arnhem Land.
That’s about 3,000 kilometres away from Worawa Aboriginal College in Healesville, north-east of Melbourne, where his granddaughter Sasha has been boarding for the past two and a half years.
This is her year 10 graduation.
“I am proud of my grandchildren, Sasha and Alicia, I am proud that this college was taken care of and that they got a good education,” Gali says.
That’s Awesome! I got family in my own town that don’t show up for my daughter.
The love and pride in this photo could power the whole 2,000-mile trip back.
I wonder what sort of things customs was like wtf are you carrying this for?!
That dude is a bad ass
That’s awesome
What a good grandfather. Probably was not easy for him.
2000 miles is 1891343.284 Tom Cruises
He ate way too many powdered donuts in the lobby before this pic
This is missing a lot of cultural nuance:
* This man was an internationally renowned Aboriginal artist and a significant member of the Yolngu Mala people.
* This man has since passed away, and for Aboriginal people it’s significant to not talk about the deceased, show their photo. Having his full name and photo here is very disrespectful. To learn more about this, google ‘sorry business’.
* She didn’t graduate university (which is what ‘college’ is known as in Australia), she graduated from high school. A lot of high schools are called colleges here.
My dad won’t even say he’s proud of me
I love it!
It’s going to be hard to top this one.
& my parents just couldn’t make it to my dance recitals…I was 6. This is beautiful.
The way you go to support your family
That’s so wholesome, pure love and pride right there. Now I miss my grandpa
grandad is obviously a legend, and the girl is gorgeous. Australia is beautiful my friends. lets love it some more please.
They put an elder on a plane. The world is wild
Beautiful story
He must have good cell service out there.
Touching and inspiring
What a cool grandpa
What a cool grandpa
I know you’re not a bot, but holy you’re really trying to rack up karma given your account age and history.
Incredible!
Would have loved to see this dude go thru customs.
Is the mud a ceremonial thing, or is it more like sunscreen?
That is just beautiful. Lucky girl to have such a loving grandfather.
Beautiful!
R/humansaremetal
On foot?
Did he go by boat or plane? Probably both I imagine since its remote? How many days did it take?
my grandpa died last year and my grandma’s going through a hard time. they both wanted to see me graduate. i fucked up in college by being stupid and not focusing on my studies and have to take a couple extra semesters, so i’ll be graduating next fall. i really hope my grandma gets to see me graduate.
Bill Bryson’s words on the Aboriginals in In a Sunburned Country were pretty impactful. He refers to them as the world’s “ignored peoples.”
Sure she wasn’t embarrassed..
There was a similar story about an elder from Canada. At first he was reluctant to attend but after thinking about it he was really inuit.
That fanfuckingtastic!! Great job powder Grandpa!!
Love seeing this posted for like the fourth time in the last month.
Grandfather attends graduation, very interesting…