Donor Spotlight: The Musgrave Family
Yalari supporter, Stuart Musgrave shares the meaning behind his family’s commitment to education, equality and giving back.
What inspires you to be involved with Yalari?
Our family foundation, the Judith Musgrave Family Foundation, was created to honour the life and values of our mother. She believed in the importance of education, family, and giving back. Yalari seemed a great fit — the work it does corresponds with those values and takes direct action to change people’s lives and provide greater opportunities for Indigenous children.
Why is Indigenous education in Australia important to you?
For myself, I benefited greatly from a quality education and the paths that opened to me as a result. I felt that offering the same opportunities for Indigenous students, and particularly ones from remote areas, would provide them with opportunities that they may not have in regional and remote communities. Having more Indigenous kids in these schools can also have a massive impact on changing perceptions of Indigenous Australians and breaking down barriers.
Do you have a personal connection to Yalari’s mission?
After having found Yalari several years ago and making smaller contributions, we were invited to sponsor a student through high school in 2015. I heard Waverley’s story and it was this direct connection to changing one person’s future that attracted us to contributing more to Yalari and we are so pleased to have gone with Tyeena on her journey.
What do you like (love!) most about Yalari?
Donating money is the easy part; it is all the hard work that the Yalari team, it’s volunteers and most importantly the students do that makes Yalari so impressive. I also love seeing the alumni staying involved in Yalari and giving back, it’s so great to see!
What does your family hope to achieve through its philanthropy?
The Judith Musgrave Family Foundation was created to bring our family together to remember our mother and to perpetuate her values in the community. Yalari helps us to achieve this goal and is a great reminder of the difference one person like Waverley can make.
What are your long-term hopes for the future of Indigenous Australia?
I would love to see a greater embracing of Indigenous culture and history in Australia, to see it as a source of pride on the global stage that we have the oldest cultures in the world. More generally for Indigenous people, I can’t wait to see former Yalari students and other Indigenous Australians be the leaders of tomorrow, whatever their vocation. Through our meeting with Tyeena, I feel so proud to have had a small involvement in what she has achieved, the results speak for themselves.
In what ways do you involve your friends and family in our cause?
At different points along our association with Yalari our family was scattered across the globe, meaning that we were not as personally involved as we would have liked. Now we meet every month for Musgrave Breakfast and more formally to discuss the work of the foundation annually. It gives us a chance to discuss the good work Yalari is doing. We discuss the feedback Yalari provides on how Tyeena’s study is going. We regularly talk about the work Yalari does and I speak about Yalari as a success story when discussing good things that are happening in Australia and the difference that can be made in an individual’s life.
What type of legacy would you like to leave?
For myself, I am not so concerned, but through the foundation which should last several generations and was set up by my father who studied “How to create a living legacy” as his doctoral thesis. I am pleased that we can remind ourselves of the values of our mother and try to do some good in the world.
Any final words?
Make sure you follow Yalari on Instagram! It’s a great way of seeing the good work being done, hearing what past students are up to now in their life and is a welcome distraction from today’s doom and gloom that makes up a lot of online media.
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Yalari respects our Elders, past and present, and acknowledges that our office is on Kombumerri country within the lands of the Yugambeh language group
(07) 5665 8688
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4 Helensvale Road, Helensvale QLD 4212