The revered local elder has worked at the remote school, 140km east of Katherine, for almost 40 years, taking on an unofficial role as cultural advisor.

"We've got these teachers coming from the big city lights, they've been to universities and they're young ones so it's my job to train them and teach them cultural awareness," Anita said.

"I tell them all 'it's better to ask a silly question than to make a terrible mistake'."

Anita began her career in education in the early 1980s, working as an assistant teacher before gaining her teaching qualification as part of the Remote Aboriginal Teacher Education (RATE) program through study at Batchelor College.

She taught middle-primary during the 1990s before becoming Teaching Principal at Barunga, under the former Katherine School Group umbrella, from 2005-2010. Anita also recently became a qualified early childhood teacher.

Barunga School Principal Malcolm Hales said Anita's knowledge of culture, language and community made her an invaluable resource.

"When we have new staff come along, Anita's the first person I try and introduce them to," he said.

"For many of them that come here they haven't been to any community before, let alone Barunga, and she has the knowledge around community.

"Anita is my cultural guide in a way so decisions I want to make and things that I need to talk to community members about I go to her and ask her 'what do you think about this idea?' and she will tell me the appropriate way to go about it or not to go about it."

A fluent Dalabon speaker, Anita's devoted to passing knowledge on to future generations.

"I'm really passionate about education. I'm passionate about working and teaching the kids and that's all I've ever wanted in life. I really love just sitting down with the kids and sharing what I know," she said.

"Us blackfella mob, we need to be smart both ways because we are living in two worlds, so we need to be smart and educated in the western way and we need to hang on to our culture."

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