Rachel Hagan, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Central Yorke School’s South Australian Aboriginal Secondary Training Academy students had a big welcome to a new year of SAASTA with visits from Port Adelaide Football Club and two Deadly Funny comedians stopping off at Yorke Peninsula.

This year is one of Central Yorke’s largest SAASTA cohorts, based at Maitland, with First Nations students from schools all around YP joining the award-winning academy.

Narungga and Ngarrindjeri man and Deadly Funny comedian Kevin Kropinyeri visited Central Yorke Academy to facilitate a comedy workshop with his colleague Sean Choolburra, with hopes to inspire more First Nations youth to be ambitious in their lives with no fear or shame.

“What we’re looking at doing is planting positive seeds, and when the time is right — under the right circumstances — those seeds will germinate,” Mr. Kropinyeri said.

“Those seeds about overcoming fear and shame are so important because they are seeing successful Aboriginal men and women out there. They are gonna be like ‘if Uncle Kev and Uncle Sean can do it, then so can I’.”

“When we get to share our stories, it’s a real heartfelt story of resilience, overcoming adversity, forgiveness, and not getting bitter.”

Graduates from the 2024 SAASTA Central Yorke Academy have highly commended the program, with many crediting the academy for their completion of year 12.

However, growing up in the 1980s, there was not the same support for Mr. Kropinyeri’s generation in regional South Australia, as an Aboriginal person.

He said there used to be very few opportunities for him and his mob, and this is why he is now using his platform to show both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students they have what it takes to make it.

“It wasn’t until I found my healing, and then I was able to turn my life around and reach my full potential,” he said.

“I only started comedy at age 30, and now I’m 52, so I’m able to impart positive messages to youth and community.”

“And to be able to travel the world making people laugh — I really have to pinch myself sometimes with some of the goals we have reached.”

During the workshop Mr. Kropinyeri and Mr. Choolburra encouraged students to step out of their comfort zones by trying out stand-up comedy on the stage in front of their peers. Central Yorke Academy clearly has a lot of bravery and comedic talent because each student who took the stage managed to have the crowd roaring with laughter.

One of the major lessons Mr. Kropinyeri tried to communicate with the students was it was ok to fail, and that failing is where you actually learn.

“How do you become a good mechanics teacher? Through experiences,” he said.

“In comedy you don’t know nothing from your good gigs, it’s the bad gigs where the joke doesn’t work and you have to think what do I have to do to make it better.”

“You’ve gotta build that, it takes years to build that going through the good and the bad, the ups and the downs.”

“It’s all helped me fine-tune me to be a better father, a better man and a better comedian.”

After the performance, students moved on to a session with the Port Adelaide Football Club and Flinders University to help prepare for the prestigious Power Cup at Adelaide Oval later in the year.

The Power Cup started as a small football competition between SAASTA Academies with just over 100 students competing; it has now grown to about 800 students.

For students to be eligible to play in the Power Cup, they must have at least 80 per cent attendance at school, complete all their work in the classroom and role model positive behavior to their peers.

The PAFC officers said they were extremely impressed with past students from the Central Yorke Academy, and that it had a very good reputation at the Power Cup, on and off the field.

One noteworthy mention was a road safety video, around being safe in a car, that Central Yorke students made during last year’s program.

The PAFC team said this video was a great example of creativity; it is now used to show new students when visiting other academies.

See all the photos in the issue.
This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 12 March 2025.