This reflection draws on a non Indigenous educators' first four years of practice in Arnhem Land, to reflect on the varying perspectives that surround Indigenous education, specifically in literacy. Tensions are described between the challenge of finding rigorous and effective literacy pedagogies, while problematising the notions of 'effectiveness' and the framework of measurable literacy outcomes on Indigenous communities. By mapping the tensions around literacy discourse as it contrasts with approaches that more explicitly value Indigenous knowledge systems, the author describes a journey of seeking to find relatedness between multiple perspectives and to keep relationality at the core of literacy teaching.