Students from a Gumbaynggirr-led school on the New South Wales north coast will begin their school year in Aotearoa, returning to classrooms through Māori immersion education and Treaty of Waitangi commemorations.
Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation will take the Gumbaynggirr Giingan Yiiliwiyay Girrwaa Dance Troupe to Aotearoa on 28 January 2026.
The visit will include time in Māori immersion and bilingual schools and participation in events marking the Treaty of Waitangi, Aotearoa's founding document signed on 6 February 1840.
The trip coincides with 186 years since the treaty was signed by more than 500 Māori chiefs and the British Crown.
Gumbaynggirr man and CEO of Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation, Clark Webb said the visit reflects long-standing relationships with Māori communities and is intended to support the school's transition to full language immersion.
"Over the last few years, we've established some really important relationships with Māori whanau (family) over in Aotearoa and we often go over to Aotearoa and they've also visited here a couple of times," Mr Webb said.
"In 2022, we built our school it started as a bilingual school called Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School.
"And now we're now changing or transitioning, the school into full immersion in Gumbaynggirr language."
Students will spend time at an immersion school in Hamilton before travelling north to Waitangi for treaty commemorations.
The experience is designed to give students a practical understanding of how immersion education operates within another Indigenous context.
Mr Webb said the invitation carried added weight amid debate in New Zealand about treaty provisions and language.
"2026 marks 186 years of the treaty... Gumbaynggirr girrwaa are honoured to again be invited to participate in treaty commemorations, 'in consideration of the current NZ government's attempt to wind back key provisions of the tiriti it is important that we demonstrate our solidarity with our Māori whanau, especially in terms of the Te Reo Maori language renaissance, '" Mr Webb said.
Mr Webb said he wants students to carry cultural understanding back into their own schooling and community.
"It's important for our children to understand when and how that treaty was developed and written and who the signatories were, because it wasn't New Zealand, it was actually the British Crown that was a signatory to it," Mr Webb said.
"The provision of educating their children in the way they see fit Māori having the right to educate their children. It's a provision of the treaty."
The Treaty of Waitangi holds important lessons for Indigenous communities beyond Aotearoa.
Those principles continue to influence how Indigenous communities approach education and language revitalisation.
MGG Language Director Ellie Buchanan said students would return with learnings that would help shape the future of the school as it moves further into Gumbaynggirr language immersion.
