KYC is proud to announce our recent office relocation to the Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-Operative (MAYSAR)

For the past 20 years, KYC has embarked on a journey for full independence. In line with KYC’s values, we are pleased to be housed within an iconic Aboriginal-owned building of truth-telling and history that has provided space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to connect, be inspired and lead self-determined lives. KYC is dedicated to supporting Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and the broader Aboriginal Community Controlled sector, which work directly with Aboriginal young people across Victoria. With MAYSAR as our home base, KYC will continue to deliver support, connection, resources, mentoring, youth advocacy and policy updates catered to young mob.

Since the 20s, Aboriginal people moving off missions, such as Cummeragunja, steadily rose. By the 50s, Fitzroy was home to the largest community of Aboriginal people in Naarm (Melbourne). Over the years, Fitzroy became a meeting place for Aboriginal people especially where Stolen Generations Survivors reconnected with family. Fitzroy is where movements were born in The Koori Club, created in the 60s by Lin Onus for young people inspired by the Black Power Movement. Storytelling and culture thrived at Nindeebiya Workshop. Atherton Gardens become a pivotal place for connections between people. Activists and community leaders gathered at the Koori Information Centre. The community stood up for our rights by establishing the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS). Fitzroy was also home to Australia’s first Aboriginal-controlled Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS).

KYC is proud to create impactful change for young people in the legacy of the community leaders and workers, grassroots activists, championship-winning athletes, and staunch artists who established and passed through MAYSAR. We are dedicated to working in their footsteps for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and the wider Koorie community at the heart of Aboriginal Fitzroy, where our political and civil rights movements began.

To learn more about the history of Aboriginal Fitzroy, you can download the Yalinguth app and hear Elders and community leaders speak about important landmarks, organisations, figures and events here.

“Working in front of illustrations and photos of Uncle Lionel Rose, alongside other greats in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, is powerful. It motivates me to keep working hard, just as those many up on the walls did before us – to carry the torch. Definitely proud to be able to work in such an amazing building, owned and used by mob, and hopefully bring back and showcase a bit of that meaning while we continue to do our own work inside those walls.” – Koby Sellings (Gunai Kurnai), Community Engagement Facilitator Koorie Youth Council.

“It just makes sense to support another Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation, and to be welcomed and supported into the space that has been established since the ’80s for young mob was an easy decision to make. We hope that making MAYSAR KYC’s new homebase, we can further create opportunities to partner and bring more young mob into and share this historic space.” – Bonnie Dukakis (Gunditjmara), Executive Officer Koorie Youth Council.

“For me, working in MAYSAR is almost like a personal reflection of what it means to be a part of ‘the oldest continuing culture on earth.’ You start with a community of people who have thrived for 10s of thousands of years with values that embrace people, place and purpose – then you see those characteristics play out in individuals. As a visitor to Victoria, I feel my sense of belonging is earned through honouring Uncle Jock’s principles and vision by waking up each day to ensure that there is space and opportunity for our people and especially young people, to heal in their purpose. I am able to do this whilst sharing space with connections to my own homes (Arthur Beetson and David Sands). This is a very spiritual thing and an ongoing reminder that it is individual responsibility that makes a collective culture strong.” – Bryce Taylor (Worimi), Youth Participation and Development Coordinator.

“MAYSAR is special, the knowledge that my old people passed through these same doors for their own reasons gives me strength. I pray that that feeling continues on after my time here is finished.” – Zach Smith (Gunai), Policy and Advocacy Officer.