Mornington Island teens become first NRL Cowboys House graduates to study at university

Two young Lardil mob women from Mornington Island are part of the first graduates from Townsville’s NRL Cowboys House to take the next step and study at James Cook University.

Key points:

Nahlani Ah Kit, 18, and Mara Sewter may hail from the tiny Gulf Indigenous community, but both have big dreams for their futures.

Ms Ah Kit is studying physiotherapy while Ms Sewter, 19, has been accepted to study nursing.

Cowboys House, a community foundation established by the Townsville-based NRL club, offers accommodation and support to young Indigenous people from remote communities so they pursue secondary school studies.

Ms Ah Kit said she was motivated by her parents to get a higher education.

“I was inspired by my mum and dad wanting me to do better and get me out of the community … not going back there just to do nothing,” she said.

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Similarly, Ms Sewter said her family was also the driving force behind her decision to study.

“My mum studied at university, so I got inspiration from her, just to make people proud,” she said.

“Our nana was a nurse and basically … a lot of our family are in the health sector.”

Future in sports Nahlani Ah Kit and Mara Sewter are now studying at James Cook University in Townsville.(

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Ms Ah Kit, a talented sportswoman, said she hoped her physiotherapy degree would lead her to a career close to her Cowboys House home.

“I hope to work with the big NRL teams, like Cowboys and Broncos … and travel around to their games and work with them,” she said.

“I’m a rugby league player as well, I’ve made a few [representative] teams but at the moment I’m in the under-19s Blackhawks team, but I support Cowboys.”

Ms Ah Kit said playing sport was a big part of her family.

“Sport is a big thing with all my side of the family and most of our family has all had history with sports,” she said.