This website is a one-stop hub designed to help Aboriginal women and girls explore careers in maternity care, understand educational pathways, access support and connect with inspiring stories from Aboriginal women already working in the profession. Together, we’re creating stronger pathways into maternity care and supporting the next generation of Aboriginal women to lead the future of Birthing on Country.
Design Origin
Mob have always cared for women, babies, and families. Long before hospitals and universities existed, our women held this knowledge, passed down through generations, carried by community, and grounded in culture.
Mob Caring for Mob was created to honour that legacy, and to open clear pathways for Aboriginal people from the South Coast of NSW who want to step into maternity care careers and continue this tradition of care.
Why This Website Exists
Aboriginal women, babies, and families deserve maternity care that is culturally safe, trusted, and led by people who understand community. Right now, there aren’t enough Aboriginal midwives, health workers, and support staff walking alongside our families through pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
This website exists to change that, by making the pathway into maternity care roles clear, accessible, and achievable for mob, no matter where you’re starting from.
We want you to see that:
- There is more than one way in. Your life experience counts.
- Support exists at every step. You don’t have to figure it out alone.
Our Purpose
This website is designed to support Aboriginal people from the South Coast of NSW in exploring educational pathways to careers in maternity care.
Here, you can find:
- Information on the maternity care roles available.
- The study options and entry pathways into each one.
- The steps you need to take to get there.
- The financial and personal support available along the way.
Whether you’re finishing high school, studying at TAFE, working in community, or returning to study later in life, there is a pathway here for you.
Our Approach
We know that studying midwifery or another maternity care role isn’t just an academic decision. It can mean moving off Country, balancing family responsibilities, and navigating systems that weren’t built with mob in mind.
That’s why this website doesn’t just list study requirements. It also speaks honestly about:
- What placements and study are really like.
- The emotional and financial realities of studying while caring for family.
- The cultural and wellbeing supports available to you.
- How to stay connected to community and culture throughout your journey.
Who Is This For?
This website is for any Aboriginal person from the South Coast of NSW who feels a pull towards caring for women, babies, and families, whether that’s as a midwife, Aboriginal Health Practitioner, nurse, doula, lactation consultant, or in one of the many other roles that keep our mob strong through pregnancy, birth, and early parenting.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to start exploring.
About the Logo
Our Mob Caring for Mob logo was designed by our team. The central circle symbolises pregnancy, new life, and the future generation, held safely within community care. The hands are part of the circle itself, reinforcing that care surrounds, holds, and protects, rather than intervenes.
Support For This Project
This project was created by Waminda’s Birthing on Country Research Team, supported by a Lowitja Institute Major Research Grant Understanding the key barriers and enablers for Aboriginal women pursuing a career in midwifery – Lowitja Institute