TasTAFE graduate Harley Mansell is inspiring a new generation of tour guides

A proud pakana man from nipaluna / Hobart, Harley Mansell completed his Certificate III in Guiding at TasTAFE in 2024 and has become a strong advocate for VET within his community.

Harley works as a tour guide with wukalina Walk, a 4-day Aboriginal-owned guided cultural walk in north-east lutruwita / Tasmania – but it took him a while to find this pathway.

“When I graduated from school back in 2005, I did a bit of cherry picking down in the Huon Valley,” Harley said. “A bit of factory work, a bit of trade work now and then… But I never really found my feet in my 20s. Then I went back to TAFE in my 30s, and look at where it’s leading now – I’m doing good things.”

For Harley, “good things” means sharing his culture with visitors to Country – the beautiful coastal landscapes of the larapuna / Bay of Fires area.

“We take visitors on Country, we show them the bush medicines, show them the foods they can eat – we cook them up a banquet. And we go up to a ‘living site’ and share cultural experiences with them,” Harley said.

One of these experiences is a traditional dance that Harley has implemented. “Dance is a really big part of my life – and this is the first time it’s going to be part of wukalina Walk,” he said.

In 2024, Harley’s success at TasTAFE and his work with wukalina Walk earned him a nomination for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year award at the Tamanian Training Awards – and he won!

“I didn't expect that at all,” Harley said. “I even said to some people, ‘Surely I’m not going to be a finalist... Surely I'm not gonna win it…’ And I went all the way!”

In December 2024, Harley travelled to Canberra as a nominee for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year award at the Australian Training Awards – and he finished runner-up.

“I’m a humble person – but it was really big for me to win those awards. It was awesome to show my community that you can go back to school at any age and keep learning.”

Harley enrolled in his TasTAFE course via Fee-Free TAFE. The flexible mix of online, face-to-face and on-site training suited him perfectly – with great support from TasTAFE’s Aboriginal Support Officers and his teachers.

“I was a bit wary of what was gonna be happening, but I loved it,” he said. “For anyone going into TAFE these days, it’s not daunting – it's not like going back into the school classroom. The flexible learning environment at TasTAFE is awesome – I’d definitely recommend it. Just have a look what you're going for and see if it’s suitable to your standards of learning.”

“It was good to be around the teachers and bounce ideas off them, because they had so much knowledge: team-building skills, being a lead guide, food handling, first aid... They knew the community members in my family too, which was respectful – and they were really respectful of the Aboriginal cultural aspects in tour guiding, too.”

The theme of this year’s NAIDOC Week is ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’ – a theme that Harley Mansell embodies.

His success is inspiring younger members of his community to learn with TasTAFE – including 2 of his cousins who are now studying Guiding and working with him at wukalina Walk.

“I’m really proud of them,” Harley said. “In the indigenous community, for the next generation, it’s inspiring for me to show them that you can do it.”