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Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Donny Imberlong has made a 2,500 kilometre journey to UWA but his biggest challenge to date has not been the distance.

Originally from Ililil, Drysdale River in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia, Donny is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Anthropology and Sociology and Environmental Science.

He lives on campus at University Hall and hopes to get a job where he can return home to Drysdale River.

“I want do so something in conservation,” he said. “There are always threats where we live like feral cats, wild cattle and cane toads. There’s a lot to be done and conservation is something I’m passionate about and aiming for.”

Donny has made an impressive educational journey in his  20 years. From ages four to seven his grandfather was also his teacher. Every school day, they would go through the lesson plans and then complete these at home together.

“We talked to our teachers over the radio. We’d sign in for 45 minutes in the mornings and have a chat to our teachers and other school mates,” said Donny.

However it was probably his less structured schooling that shaped his knowledge.

“There are three big islands where we live, sometimes me and my grandfather would go out there and camp for a few nights with some fishing lines and a bit of food. We had no blankets, just built a fire between us to create a shell and the breeze coming off the beach would blow the heat over us,” said Donny.

After being offered a scholarship at Hale School, Donny made the move to study (and board) in the city (2008). The transition to a city high school and such a structured lifestyle was challenging – Donny missed home and found it hard to adjust.

Overcoming the challenges in high school actually meant that it was a much easier transition to living at University Hall and studying at UWA.

“There are lots of nationalities and it’s really interesting to get to know everyone,” says Donny.

The community environment at UniHall is the reason why Donny enjoys living on campus. Donny gets involved in intercollege touch rugby competitions, samples the food at UniHall Global Café nights and stepped out of his comfort zone to participate in the University’s Challenges Abroad Machu Picchu Challenge.

As part of the program Donny travelled to Peru with a group of UWA students to provide Peruvian children with a safe and happy environment to learn English and develop key skills for social mobility in the future. He says the trip was pretty ‘hectic’ with the group learning Spanish, doing handy man jobs around the orphanage, and learning how to keep the attention span of young children!

“They gave us from 9am – 12pm and we taught our own lesson plans. It was an amazing trip!”

Donny’s favourite memory of UniHall so far was in his first few weeks - he remembers the new people he met, all the activities buzzing around the college and the lifelong friends he’s making from all around the world. In fact when Donny travelled to Peru, South America, he crossed the border to stay with some mates he made at the Hall who were from Brazil.

“I went to Port Alegre and stayed there for about a week and a half. My mate showed me around and took me to Osorio which is like a holiday place where people had holiday houses; so, like a summer vacation setup I guess -it was really nice!”

As a small boy living in the remote Kimberley it would have been hard for Donny to ever imagine that he would one day be living at University Hall and studying at UWA – but he is!

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