This article outlines the development of "Yuwaya Ngarra-li" (YN), a holistic, community-led partnership with a university that aims to realize Aboriginal Elders' vision for wellbeing in their community. The Dharriwaa Elders Group (DEG), a community-controlled organization in Walgett, a remote town in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, invited the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to partner with them to progress their long-held vision for systemic change. This partnership aims to improve the environment, life pathways, and wellbeing of Aboriginal people living in Walgett through collaboration on evidence-based initiatives, research and building local community capabilities and control. YN builds on decades of strong advocacy, community development, and participatory research that has focused on addressing structural injustices and inequity through centering Indigenous knowledges, worldviews, and rights. This innovative partnership is contributing to the evidence base for community-led solutions, with implications for research, policy and practice.

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Aboriginal Elders in Australia are recognised as having an important role as community leaders and cultural knowledge holders. However, the effects of colonisation and institutional racism mean Elders also experience significant social and economic disadvantage and poor health outcomes. There has been a systemic lack of attention to the worldviews and priorities of Aboriginal people as they age. In this article, we detail the findings of a qualitative study using a localised Aboriginal Elder-informed methodology that involved interviews and focus groups with 22 Aboriginal Elders in the remote town of Walgett on what ageing well means to them. This study was undertaken as part of a long-term partnership between a unique community-controlled Elders organisation and a university. The findings illuminate the barriers and enablers to ageing well for Aboriginal people in Walgett and elsewhere, and demonstrate the value to research, policy and service delivery of listening to and learning from Elders, centring Indigenous knowledges and worldviews, and bringing a more holistic conceptualisation of wellbeing to the understanding of what it means to age well.