Barry McGrady is a proud Gomeroi man born and raised in Moree NSW, at the age of 15 he received a scholarship to move to a boarding school in Sydney to purse a higher education attainment. After finishing High School he went to the University of Western Sydney to Sports Management but being away from his family and key supports dropped out and followed his sporting dream to become a rugby league player. He made the top 30 for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2010, but during training after being told he would make his NRL appearance his hamstring snapped causing him to miss out the season and not make his NRL dream. During this he has worked as the Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer within the Education system, then worked at behaviour school settings to transition kids back to mainstream school settings from kindergarten to year 6 for 7 years.
He then moved from Sydney to Newcastle to work in the Out of home Care sector in NSW for the past 5 years with a non-government organisation called Allambi Care.
His experience, knowledge and passionate words have changed many hearts and minds within the sector, through his motivation to get young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids to reconnect with Family, Kin & Community, and to return back them back too their cultural lands.
Barry provides educational support for all staff on how to best engage, support and too connect with Aboriginal children and families through Cultural Knowledge training.
He is also one of Allambi Cares Connecting Families facilitators to provide Family Finding training within Australia. He has put a cultural lens on the family finding training through consultation and permission from Mike Mertz and Kevin Campbell when working with Aboriginal Controlled Organizations to best do this practice.
Barry has many mats he wears from supporting Allambi youth workers, foster carers, Case Workers, Case Managers, Managers, and Directors, to the CEO with cultural knowledge, support and guidance. He also provides cultural consults for all staff in NSW, Northern Rivers NSW and VIC, helps develop cultural plans, forming relationships with Aboriginal organisations for partnerships, Chairs the cultural committee, supporting directors with Allambi Cares Reconciliation Action plan, providing family finding internally and externally, provides cultural Knowledge training, connecting with the Young persons family, extended family and community where they are from, providing supports for return to country trips, organising cultural programs and cultural camps for Allambi youth.
Barry’s Aboriginal Name is Yuundu meaning the Axe stone