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While a significant minority cohort, Australian Aboriginal women are increasingly attending university. However, their experiences remain largely undocumented in the literature. This study focused on the experience of eight female Aboriginal students who completed an Indigenous-only bridging course where they watched the film, Educating Rita, about a working-class woman attending university. The protagonist was a catalyst for a yarning circle which captured participants' free-flowing conversation about barriers and motivators at university. Thematic analysis of yarning data suggested that the participants faced class and gender-based struggles, which intersected with struggles faced by Indigenous students more broadly. Motivation to persist with university was expressed through paradox; family, community, and caregiving were key motivators and key obstacles. Findings from this study have theoretical and practical application: they illustrate a gendered experience of the Cultural Interface and offer catalysts for tailored support strategies to enable Australian Aboriginal women to undertake and achieve university degrees.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are increasingly completing university at rates higher than their male counterparts. However, the reasons for this trend, including factors that support Indigenous women's determination to persist with university study, remain undocumented in the literature. We applied a strengths-based approach to determine factors that enabled eight Aboriginal women's success at university. In a project devised, designed and facilitated by Aboriginal women with university degrees, participants were invited to contribute to a yarning circle discussion where they were prompted to discuss strengths they drew upon to persist in their studies. Thematic analysis of the yarning data revealed four superordinate themes related to persistence: "affirming educational experiences," "peer support," "developing a growth mindset," and "the Aboriginal Education Unit." Findings suggest that the women's persistence was a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, all of which were contextualised within the intersectional experience of being both Aboriginal and female. This study acts to balance a deficit bias in studies about Indigenous people and higher education by elucidating the strengths of a specific Aboriginal cohort. Additionally, the findings can be translated into deeper understanding and practical guidance for universities to better support Indigenous women.