By Emilia Terzon at 105.7 ABC Darwin
A teenage model selected as the Northern Territory representative for the Miss World national finals hopes the opportunity will “break the cycle” of how broader Australia views traditional Indigenous life.
When a model manager spotted Yirrkala-born Maminydjama Maymuru getting cash out of a Darwin city ATM in 2014, it was almost a cliché opening from a plucked-from-obscurity supermodel success story.
“I stopped dead in my tracks. I think I scared the life out of her,” Mehali Tsangaris, director of NT Fashion Week, said.
But Ms Maymuru knocked back Mr Tsangaris’s on-the-spot offer to appear on a catwalk just a few weeks later.
“I had year 12 and I had to finish my work,” Ms Maymuru said of finishing her studies in Darwin.
“Back home education is actually a big deal. Elders and women have done big things to get a bilingual education.”