Out and About: Kiara Tallboy

HIPPY First Nations Network Site Advisor

In conversation with Kiara

Out and About is the Network News feature that puts a face to the name of a HANO team member on the road, in community halls, at site Gatherings, in the Coordinator's office.
In this edition, we hit the stride with Kiara Tallboy.

There's a knack Kiara has that she probably doesn't think twice about. Within minutes of walking into a room of strangers, she's engaged them in conversation, and not long after that, turned them into allies.
Ask her about it, and she'll put it down to just being herself: reading the room, cracking a joke, letting people know how similar she is to you. But when listening to how she sets about building relationships, from the first site visit, it looks less like luck and more like a deep-seated interest in engaging with people.
It's the sort of thing that can't really be taught, only recognised.

It shows up consistently in the way she shares a narrative.
Her stories arrive complete, whole-hearted, with the right beat for a laugh or a pause at the exact perfect time! It becomes obvious that the desire to connect flows subconsciously, whether she's training a room of new Tutors or recounting a visit two years on.

It's probably no accident that training is the part of the job she says she loves most.

Can we begin by telling readers a bit about yourself and your role in the HIPPY National Office?

Sure! I currently work as a Site Advisor, supporting 16 HIPPY sites across NT, New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. 14 of them Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations.

Before moving to Melbourne in 2018, I built my career in early childhood education in Adelaide: as an Educator with children under two years of age, then into an Assistant Director role, managing an autism-specific early learning program. I also spent time in TAFE, supporting students through their Children's Services qualifications and running professional learning workshops on autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

I am drawn to early childhood development, attachment theory, working alongside families, and play-based learning, and I've loved leading teams and delivering training throughout my career. Being a Site Advisor lets me draw on all of that: coaching coordinators, building capability, and working with leaders to strengthen outcomes for children and families.

One of my favourite parts of the role is getting to travel this country and meet the people behind it. Every site and community brings something different, and I learn a lot along the way.

What shapes how I show up, at work and in life, is a genuine love of connection and hearing people's stories.
I believe everyone has one worth listening to, and one waiting to be told.

I'd like to think the people at HANO and the sites I support would say I'm passionate about HIPPY and what it does for children, families and communities. I'd imagine they would say I am loud, fun, energetic, and always up for celebrating a win.
Above all, I hope they'd say I'm someone they can rely on.

The first day at a new site is about establishing rapport.

I feel like they're expecting a “scary person from the Melbourne office,” so my first goal is to work on putting the team at ease. That means asking questions, having a laugh, and showing up “just like you.”

Where possible, I ensure I fly in the day before. I quickly settle into the accommodation and take a walk or drive around town to get a feel for the community before the visit begins.

Once at the site, I try to book in only a few key anchors: a Tutor training, a home visit, a Gathering, and a catchment tour of the community, but I hold the plan loosely.

Things will pop up, and you go with the flow because generally that's where the magic is

What can you tell us about the site visits you've made this year?

Between March and July this year, I completed ten establishment visits, all with Aboriginal community controlled organisations new to HIPPY and at very different stages of their HIPPY journey.

What begins as a bit of nervousness all round tends to ease quickly, these visits lay the foundation for future relationships that carry through everything to follow.

What is a recent key learning or cultural insight from your travels that you believe is important for the network to understand?

One theme stood out across every visit: the sheer passion and energy of these new providers, determined to do right by the program from day one.

Across the board, from Tutors to CEOs, I've been hearing, 'We love HIPPY, we believe in HIPPY, we're going to do our absolute best.' It is the best feeling!

I notice it even in the way I am welcomed into the spaces. There is a different feeling, like walking into a family.

CEOs greeting me with a hug rather than a handshake have become a deeply familiar and valued part of these visits.

Every time I stood in a new provider space and met the HIPPY team, I thought: HIPPY is home. It's exactly where it belongs in these communities

Is it community shaping HIPPY, or HIPPY that shapes community? What's your approach, Kiara?

My approach is grounded in self-determination. I don't assume a site can't do something, and I know I hold every site to high expectations. And that's because I believe they can meet them.

It's just as much about the journey and how we get there

Rather than comparing sites, I just meet each one where it's at. The key is to treat change as the norm rather than the exception, be it staffing, unique circumstances, or the factors that make up that community.

HIPPY cannot exist without the community it's supporting.

Knowing what's in scope for HIPPY, and what isn't, allows me to focus on what I can influence, and knowing when to refer a family on is just as important.

Half the battle is acknowledging that there are wraparound support services better placed to assist families in other areas of their lives. I am constantly reminded that HIPPY is just a drop in the ocean, but it can definitely have its impact

If there's one thing you'd like every Coordinator and Tutor to know, what would it be?

If there's one thing they need to know, it's that

every single interaction I have had, with every one of you, over the years has had an impact on me, it's shaped the way I turn up

Every community HIPPY works in has a lot going on outside the program, and sites keep teaching me the same lesson: self-determination is the key to their success.

I am grateful to have travelled to so many places, and the people I meet on a visit give me back more than I can put into words.
Parents who are just doing their absolute best, breaking cycles, people in their first jobs, people getting trained for the first time. All these firsts, and they thank me for it. I can't help but reflect that it's all down to their own efforts.

That's the stuff that keeps me going, the thing that reminds me the program really does make a difference out there

What's one memory that has stayed with you for years?

During one of my very first Assessment Program Quality (APQ) visits in 2019, I comforted a crying baby at a Gathering so a mum could finish decorating a Book Week cape. The baby eventually settled and fell asleep in my arms. It was a small moment of normalcy in the fog of early motherhood for the mum, and a moment of significance for me in that I was able to support someone through a stressful moment.

At a site visit to a site earlier this year, I got talking to a woman, and it slowly dawned on me that it was that same mum. She is now employed as a HIPPY Tutor and receiving on-the-job training. Her daughter was there too, now a confident, gorgeous young girl.

That mum probably doesn't know how much that moment meant, but it was a full-circle moment for me.

Knowing that she was doing well and the kid was thriving means a lot to me

Then it's the smaller things, knowing that I got to be part of the Age 3 curriculum development and redevelopment of the Age 4 project.

I get a kick out of knowing that I have a small part as a memory in print. Having contributed to "Is This My Home?", seeing children reading and loving that book always puts me on top of the world.