For more than 20 years, several UniSA students from an Aboriginal background have benefitted from the generosity of Irene and David Davy. Recipients are now spread across the world and achieving their goals in diverse industries.

The Irene and David Davy Scholarship for Advancement of Aboriginal Education aims to further the belief of the original benefactors that support and encouragement, combined with access to education, can change the lives of young people.

At the time she studied medicine, trustee and niece of David, Margaret Davy was one of the few women to do so, and the women in her extended family all achieved in their chosen professions under the encouragement of their aunt and uncle.

Those attending a recent reunion lunch in Adelaide are prime examples of students reaping the benefits of increased opportunities, confidence and self-esteem. They also illustrate the diversity of qualifications, career paths and experiences. Attending the reunion were Treena Clark (Public Relations), Tania Day (Midwifery), Montanna Doudle (Physiotherapy), Loyola Wills (International Relations) and Kirra Dyer (Exercise Physiology).

After more than two decades, the more than 45 beneficiaries are many and varied. Here are just a few expanding their horizons further afield.

Yhonnie Scarce studied a Bachelor of Visual Art and is now recognised as a leading Australian contemporary artist. Her work is touring the United States as part of a group exhibition and another in Berlin will conclude in February. Tate Modern recently jointly acquired Yhonnie’s Remember Royalty (2018) with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), and the work is now part of A Year in Art: Australia 1992, being shown in London until May 2023.

“The scholarship really helped me with my studies in many ways,” says Yhonnie. “One is that glass can be expensive, so the funding allowed me to purchase materials to explore this medium and improve my skills. The other is that it helped me establish myself in this competitive industry when I was first starting out.”

An Alumni Award recipient in 2018, James Charles completed an undergraduate degree in podiatry, followed by a Masters and finally a PhD. Today, Professor Charles is Director of the First Peoples Health Unit at Griffith University in Queensland. You can read more about Prof Charles here.

“When I first started university, it was a real culture shock for me. I was a bit older than most of the other students but to be honest it was the time of my life,” says James. “It was amazing. I absolutely loved it.”

While studying a Bachelor of Laws, Hannah Mills also worked for the Education Department. “At the time, my family lived up in the Hills, so the scholarship allowed me to move closer to the city and have more time for work and study,” says Hannah. “With three semesters and 10 to 12 subjects a year, it was quite heavy.”

After graduating from UniSA she joined the Department of Defence through their Graduate Development Program. She later took on the role of lawyer in the Indigenous Outreach Program at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Just this month she was promoted to Senior Manager at PwC's Indigenous Consulting, where she has been working since 2021 on projects that provide advice and develop strategies to help realise the commercial and community potential of First Nation policies, programs, organisations and businesses.

Jessica Tsmieris started her university studies in architecture but soon found that her interest in computer gaming would be a better fit with a Bachelor of Computer Science. However, she still finds an overlap between some of the design skills she learned from architecture and her current role at Google. Initially working for the Department of Defence as a software engineer, programming and coding, the move to Google was prompted by her interest in what the software users actually want from it. Since 2017, she has worked as a User Experience Researcher for Google Meet and is now based in Seattle, and recently became a United States citizen.

“I really loved my Uni days at Mawson Lakes. We didn’t have a lot of money and the scholarship alleviated a lot of my expenses. I had scrimped and saved for a laptop which was essential for computer science, and I could now buy my books and just focus on my studies.”

Find out more about this and other scholarships at the University of South Australia here.