Kaya All!

Kyanna is a Noongar and Maori law student—and she’s just been accepted into an International Human Rights study program in Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneva is the home of the Geneva Convention of Human Rights, making this a dream come true for Kyanna.

In Geneva, she will have the opportunity to connect with leading human rights specialists, diplomats and international jurists. She’ll also tour the United Nations and have access to the Human Rights Council and other leading organisations. Being in Geneva will therefore help Kyanna turn her passion for human rights and social justice into a reality once she graduates.

After a nationally competitive process, Kyanna joins a group selected to attend the program run by Murdoch University. Kyanna will study units specific to Human Rights law, including Refugee Law as well as Legal Protection of Human Rights.

But to get to Geneva she needs your help as the trip is entirely self-funded. Needless to say, Kyanna would be grateful for any amount you can spare, whether it’s $5 or more. If you can’t help out financially, please feel free to share this link to your friends, family and networks.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

About Kyanna -

Kyanna is a 19-year-old Noongar (Whadjuk & Balladong mobs) and Maori (Tapuika and Ngati Pikiao iwi) woman currently studying her third year of a Bachelor of Laws, at Murdoch University. She is a strong young woman with a fierce passion for human rights, social justice and driving social change, particularly in relation to women, youth, indigenous and migrant communities, culture, and caretaking of country.

Kyanna is the second oldest of 5 children. Like way too many young people these days, Kyanna spent the first half of her life living within a family and domestic violence situation, until the age of 10yrs old. This early experience continued to impact Kyanna for many years as she struggled to settle in to school, often missing days to instead working to heal the trauma that had been passed on. Throughout this, Kyanna was able to get support both at home, through school and local community and some may suspect that this early experience has fuelled her passion for justice and human rights as well as an understanding of the positive impacts of strong communities!

Moving into high school was not a smooth transition though, and Kyanna soon found that her need for truth and facts, for justice, equality and inclusion was not always supported in the classroom resulting in an extremely common, but challenging experience. Kyanna chose to leave the local high school and instead try in New Zealand for a period. However, the impacts of CoVID lockdown meant she was unable to attend and therefore she withdrew from school and begun employment before returning to Australia the following year.

Returning in the year she should have been in year 12 but having already failed to meet the requirements to graduate high school, Kyanna had to make a decision about what she was going to do. Coming from a family where her mum had instilled a value for continuous learning beyond the formal education system, the choice to do nothing was not an option and therefore she found the Murdoch University bridging course K-Track, where she was accepted as the youngest in the class group at the time. She completed the same year and was then accepted into the Laws program. This journey through the education system and into higher education was captured in an article by WAToday (14 March, 2025), which was then shared nationally by various news outlets. Kyanna has progressed through her degree, building her knowledge and skills and receiving recognition for her dedication by receiving the “2025 Aboriginal Women’s Legal Education” award from Woman Lawyers WA.

Throughout this time, she has continued her passion of learning and sharing cultural knowledge. Kyanna spends her free time travelling to regional and remote areas with her grandparents, where she has continued to learn about history, language, bush medicines and foods and caretaking for country. Kyanna continues to share this passion with her family, as well as through on campus events and publicly, having recently been featured in the ABCPerth Noongar Seasons segment (30 Nov, 2025).

Over this time, Kyanna found her passion for young people and education, joining the Kulbardi staffing group where she began with the student support team, acting as a tutor and mentor for high school leavers. She has previously supported high school students during the on-campus open days with high schools from across the metropolitan region attending the university in hopes of breaking down barriers and highlighting the support available for potential future students.

Kyanna is hoping to be able to harness this passion and continue to build her presence within the wider community as she begins to focus her academic direction on Human Rights Law. To begin this journey she has been accepted into the “International Human Rights” program being delivered by Murdoch University in June – July 2026 in Geneva Switzerland.

Despite all of this amazing success, this program is currently a little beyond reach on our own, but is such an amazing opportunity to continue building skills, knowledge, and networks, and therefore we are putting this out to the public who may choose to contribute to support this future leader!

This fund is only part of the fundraising that is being done and every dollar donated will help!

However, we understand that life is extremely tough at the moment, and we understand broke! and therefore, do not expect anyone who is unable to donate, however, sharing the post would also be super helpful

**Please note: In the event that more funds than are required for this specific event are raised across the various activities, the excess will be held in an account for similar future events related to youth leadership, indigenous knowledges, law and human rights for example.