General News
27 June, 2026
Girls show minister the way
FEDERAL Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy visited AFL Cape York House for Girls in Cairns last week, meeting students and learning about the boarding facility’s role in supporting young people from remote communities.
The minister toured the facility last Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by students Lucy and Diwadi.
AFL Cape York House provides educational, employment and training opportunities for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from some of Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory’s most remote communities. The organisation operates two boarding facilities in Cairns for girls and boys.
Lucy, a year 8 student from St Paul on Moa Island in the Torres Strait, said the boarding house had become a second home.
“It feels like home, I have a lot of friends here,” she said.
“The aunties and uncles make me feel like they’re my second parents.
“I want to go to uni and I want to be a lawyer.”
Diwadi, a year 9 student from Bamaga at the northern tip of Cape York, said living at the boarding house had helped her connect with people from across the region. “You build relationships with people from different communities.
“I like how we call them aunties and uncles, it really makes this feel like a second home.”
Year 12 student Sylvia, who has lived at AFL Cape York House since year 7, will become the first young woman from her remote community of Angurugu on Groote Eylandt to complete high school.
She hopes to establish her own online business selling artwork after graduation.
“I’ll be the first girl from my community Angurugu to graduate high school. I’m proud of myself for making it through,” she said.
