Work­ing along­side Rosie is Ruth Munung­gurr, who has been an Abo­rig­i­nal Health Work­er for 32 years.

Ruth had plans to be involved in a self-man­age­ment project in her own home­land at Buku­dal with her fam­i­ly – but was drawn to take on the role as a Cul­tur­al Advi­sor at the cen­tre to help the entire community.

“When plan­ning start­ed for this aged care cen­tre we went around talk­ing to all the peo­ple who would be involved in each stage – the archi­tec­ture, facil­i­ties and ser­vices,” says Ruth.

“We talked to them about the best way and the best build­ing and what every­thing would look like.”

Now that the cen­tre is open, the main focus for Rosie and Ruth each day is to per­son­alise the care pro­vid­ed to the res­i­dents and ensure it is cul­tur­al­ly appropriate.

“The Yolŋu work­force is indis­pens­able in this regard,” says Rosie.

“They act as inter­preters and trans­la­tors, mak­ing the res­i­dents feel com­fort­able to ask for what they want, and explain­ing their needs. Any nation­al­i­ty would feel the same way.”

Peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty are so hap­py about the cen­tre, because it means they are clos­er to Elders, says Ruth.

“The cost to go and vis­it in Dar­win, to fly there to vis­it, it’s too much for fam­i­lies,” she says.

“It’s best for old folk to be in the com­mu­ni­ty. Eas­i­er for the fam­i­ly to vis­it and take them around in the bus, and to be around fam­i­ly. You should see the smiles on their faces when they can go on the bus for an outing.

“And at the cen­tre, there is an open door for fam­i­ly to come and spend time with their elder­ly fam­i­ly members.”

Rosie says that one lady at the cen­tre had pre­vi­ous­ly been in care in Dar­win for two years.

“Some­one flagged this to us,” she says.

“She hadn’t stayed with her son for two years. We’ve now brought her here and when­ev­er her son comes, her eyes light up.”

There’s no area, not one detail that hasn’t been explored to help make res­i­dents feel at home at Yutjuwala Djiwarr.

“The gar­den­ing, for exam­ple, is done by Abo­rig­i­nal men employed by the Arn­hem Land Progress Abo­rig­i­nal Cor­po­ra­tion (ALPA),” Rosie says.

“These men also go fish­ing so that the res­i­dents can get the fish and shell­fish they ate grow­ing up. The gar­den is start­ing to get estab­lished, with trees and plants that pro­vide shade for the res­i­dents to sit out­side, and we are start­ing to get fruit and oth­er foods and bush medicines.”

The art cen­tre is anoth­er favourite with the res­i­dents, says Ruth.

“We have Indige­nous artists and enter­tain­ers who work close­ly with the art cen­tre. Activ­i­ties include weav­ing and paint­ing. It’s so good. They have mem­o­ries of these activ­i­ties and they are so hap­py to go to those mem­o­ries. And I’ve got to say, Rosie has long straight hair – which is always in demand for the art brushes…”

Then there’s Lol­ly, the res­i­dent dog who has recent­ly been joined by pup­py Yapa. Yapa is Yolŋu for sister.

With 32 beds and a pal­lia­tive care unit, the num­ber of res­i­dents fluc­tu­ates marked­ly as there is an empha­sis on help­ing them to vis­it their fam­i­lies and to go to their home­lands for a week­end or a few weeks.

The Yolŋu work­force is par­tic­u­lar­ly cru­cial in the pal­lia­tive care unit, work­ing with the fam­i­ly to make sure the cor­rect spokes­peo­ple are consulted.

There is a cer­e­mo­ny place out­side for when the pal­lia­tive care patient pass­es, and a smok­ing cer­e­mo­ny is con­duct­ed to pre­pare for a new res­i­dent in that unit.

The cen­tre was a vision of the Yolŋu Elders in Arn­hem Land to pre­vent their age­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers need­ing to trav­el hun­dreds of kilo­me­tres to cities like Dar­win for end-of-life care, and to pro­vide cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive pal­lia­tive and aged care services.

The con­nec­tion to Coun­try began with the tim­ber used in con­struc­tion, sourced from the Gumatj Mill, trav­el­ling less than 50km from its source. The atten­tion to cul­tur­al needs is in every aspect of the design. Each bed­room pro­vides access to the out­doors with shel­tered veran­das, suit­able for rest­ing, and vis­it­ing family.

As Rosie and Ruth say: ​“We want every­one to feel at home in this home.”