Students at Tranby Aboriginal College in February 1973 (photograph courtesy City of Sydney Archives - SRC14399)
Tranby Aboriginal College is a community-based education cooperative run by and for Aboriginal people. Located in the inner-city suburb of Glebe, Tranby has provided an independent learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since it was set up in 1957 by the Reverend Alf Clint, an Anglican minister and trade unionist.
Apart from providing education, Tranby was proactive in the land rights movement from the early 1970s and in the push for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in the 1990s.
Additional buildings at Tranby were completed in 1998 reflecting the philosophy of an Aboriginal learning circle with round rooms surrounding a courtyard. The new buildings were designed by architects Julie Cracknell and Peter Lonergan with the Merrima Design Unit.
Aboriginal people continue to travel from all over Australia to study and train at Tranby, taking up courses in legal studies, community development and business.
