What I Wore When Becoming a Dr! PhD Graduation

16.04.2026, I stood on Kaurna Country, Adelaide Convention Centre, and received my Doctoral Degree.
Not as a distant observer, but as one who has walked between worlds.
I wore the Aboriginal dress adorned with dreaming circles from Aussie Vibes — a quiet act of reverence to the First Peoples of this land who opened their country to me. From the red earth of the Flinders Ranges to the vast silence of the Eyre Peninsula, where Anangu and Wirangu custodians have cared for Country since time immemorial, I have been held, taught, and transformed. In their languages, their kinship systems, and their unyielding resilience, I found a second home. I feel part of them now, woven into the fabric of this ancient continent that gave me the space to think, to heal, and to finish this doctorate.
Layered beneath the dress were the African queen earrings-a tribute to Nelson Mandela’s immortal words: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” They reminded me that knowledge is resistance, that learning is liberation.
Around my neck rested the PNG kina shell necklace, and in my hair the traditional headdress-both worn in homage to my parents, my ancestors, and the Melanesian way that raised me in Hela Province. These shells have travelled with my people for generations; today they travelled with me across oceans to bear witness to this moment.
And on my feet? Bold red flat high heels-because a woman from the Highlands does not arrive quietly. She arrives with presence, with purpose, and with power.
My sons stood beside me dressed in cosmic orange, symbols of awe and wonder at the vastness of what we have achieved together. My guests wore sunshine yellow-the colour of Hela, the colour of resilience, the colour of home.
And then there was Tulu — my faithful dog, my quiet healer. Through every late-night rewrite, every moment of doubt, every tear shed in the long journey from PNG to Kaurna Country and back again, Tulu was there. Unconditional, steady, and wise in the way only animals can be. He taught me that healing is not always loud; sometimes it simply sits beside you and waits for you to remember who you are.
This doctorate-a mixed-methods thesis on the cultural dimensions of children’s dietary diversity in Papua New Guinea-was never just an academic exercise. It was an act of love for my people, for Indigenous knowledge systems, and for the decolonising of public health itself. It was forged in the tension between expert knowledge and ordinary/community theory, between Western academia and Melanesian ways of knowing.
Today I stand here not only as Dr Shila Yukuli Paia, but as a bridge.
Grateful. Rooted. Unapologetically whole.
To every ancestor, every Elder, every friend, every colleague, every dog who walked beside me, thank you.
The work continues.
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