Profiles of 2008 National NAIDOC Award winners
Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr Chicka Dixon
Dr Chicka Dixon has devoted his life to fighting for the rights of Indigenous Australians. Wharfie, unionist and humanitarian, Chicka has made a great contribution to building a better Australia.
Born in 1928, Chicka was raised on the Aboriginal mission at Wallaga Lake in south-east NSW. At 14, he started work as a casual labourer on the Port Kembla waterfront. For 21 years he was employed as a seasonal worker and as a builders labourer, before becoming a stevedore and organiser for the Waterside Workers Union.
Waterfront strikes sparked Chicka’s interest in politics, and provided him with a solid and practical political education.
During his early years Chicka fought – and won – a battle with alcohol. In 1960, he became involved with the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, which laid the groundwork for the triumph of the 1967 referendum.
In the early 1970s, Chicka was a foundation member of both the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal Medical Service, which provided the model for the establishment of many similar Aboriginal services around Australia.
Chicka was also involved with the establishment of the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972. In the same year he led the first Aboriginal Delegation to the People’s Republic of China in a mission to highlight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues internationally.
In 1973, Chicka was an original member of the Aboriginal Arts Board and was the first Indigenous appointee to the Australia Council. Two years later, he visited the United States and Canada to conduct research into the penal systems and to examine drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs for Indigenous peoples.
In 2006, Chicka was awarded Honorary Doctorates from three different Sydney universities, acknowledging his contribution to the struggle for human rights for Aboriginal people and for the recognition of their culture and history.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Joseph Elu, AO
Joseph Elu has been a passionate advocate of Indigenous economic development, encouraging Indigenous participation in the mainstream economy and developing practical measures to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.
Joseph’s influential 12-year leadership as Chairman of Indigenous Business Australia revitalised the organisation, building consolidated net assets from $58 million to $721 million, and creating many employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians.
He has advised governments of many political persuasions at the national and state levels, and represented Australia in international forums.
His message is one of hope for a sustainable economic future for Indigenous Australians, regardless of where they live. To him, true reconciliation is based on sustainable Indigenous communities, with vibrant social and economic livelihoods.
Developing closer links with the private sector has been a major theme in Joseph’s work. He has encouraged joint-venturing as a means to gain access to industry expertise. He has relentlessly promoted the idea that “doing business with Indigenous Australians is good business”.
Joseph was born on Thursday Island, in the Torres Strait Islands between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea. He was raised in Seisia, a mainland community near the tip of Cape York.
In 1987, he returned to Seisia and developed the community as a popular destination for anglers and tourists, injecting $10 million into the local economy each year.
Joseph was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 and presented with an Honorary Doctorate from Queensland University of Technology in 2002 for his work in economic development for Indigenous Australians. In 2008 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Recently, Joseph returned to Seisia as the newly-elected Mayor of the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Archie Roach
Archie Roach is, quite simply, a legend of the Australian music industry.
The deep yearning in the voice of the man who told the nation how “they took the children away” is not easily forgotten. Archie’s words and music communicate the stories to his audience in a direct and passionate way which official reports could never hope to achieve.
Born in Mooroopna, in central Victoria, was taken away from his family as a very young child, and placed in an orphanage. Archie spent time on the streets, attempting to relocate his natural family while battling alcoholism and despair.
During this time he met his lifelong partner and musical soul mate, Ruby Hunter. They started a family, and in later years of the marriage, their place became an open house for Aboriginal teenagers living on the streets.
Archie also began to write songs – about his life, his people, and his culture. In 1990 his debut album Charcoal Lane was released to widespread acclaim. The album featured the song Took the Children Away, which documented the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.
The evocative lyrics touched the heart of a nation, and won for Archie a Human Rights Achievement Award – the first time such an award had been presented to a songwriter.
The album also won two ‘Arias’ for Best Indigenous Album and Best New Talent and was named by the prestigious US Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top fifty albums of 1992.
His 1997 album Looking for Butterboy won Aria Awards for Best Adult Contemporary Adult Release and Best Indigenous Release.
In 2000 Archie won a second Human Rights Achievement Award for his narration of a documentary about the Stolen Generations entitled Land of the Little Kings. He was also a key contributor to a national campaign which raised awareness of the problems on family violence in Aboriginal communities.
Archie recently released a new album, Journey, which he describes as “a reaffirmation of identity, country, beliefs, spirit, and how no-one listened to our recommendations on stolen kids, or people dying in jails.”
Person of the Year – Associate Professor Colleen Hayward
Associate Professor Colleen Hayward is a senior Noongar woman with family ties throughout the south-west of Western Australia. Colleen currently works as the Manager of the Kulunga Research Network at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth.
For more than 20 years, Colleen has provided high-level input to policies and programs on a wide range of issues affecting Indigenous people, including health, education, training, employment and housing.
Colleen started her working life as a teacher and has maintained an interest in, education and training for more than 30 years. Colleen is the only Indigenous member of the WA State Training Board and brings to it a wealth of policy and management expertise.
Not to mention her exuberant personality! Those who know her personally, describe Colleen as a very confident and passionate Noongar woman fiercely proud of her cultural heritage.
Her story is one of high achievement, resilience and courage. Not even a battle with cancer – which she predictably won – could diminish her output or enthusiasm.
In March 2006, Colleen was awarded the prestigious Premier of Western Australia’s Multicultural Ambassador Award for her commitment to progressing human rights and addressing racism in our community.
Most recently, Colleen was nominated and selected to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate in Cross-sector Partnership at the University of Cambridge in England.
Colleen was also one of the 1000 leading Australians selected to participate in the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit in Canberra in April 2008.
Elder of the Year (Female) – Carol Pettersen
Carol Pettersen is a Noongar/Ngadu woman from the south-east coast of Western Australia. She has lived and worked in Albany for most of her life, and is well-known throughout the Noongar nation as a tireless worker for her people.
She has been very active in Indigenous affairs for over 40 years.
Carol was a principal adviser to the Premier of Western Australia on women’s issues, and has been appointed to many state and Commonwealth committees and boards covering issues such as Indigenous health, welfare, education and training.
Carol was a councillor with the local Shire Council of Albany, and such is the respect she gained during her term, a chamber room in the council was named after her.
Although officially retired, she is still very involved as a cultural spokesperson working alongside mining companies such as BHP Billiton, advising on long-term economic development and sustainability for traditional owners.
Carol has been chair of the South West Aboriginal Education Committee for over five years and is involved in local primary schools doing cross-cultural workshops and liaising with teachers, parents and students to access the best possible opportunities for Noongar youth.
Family has always been an important focus for Carol. She is the third of 18 children and one of 10 girls. Carol says she helped raise her younger siblings from the age of eight and learnt from that early start to become a leader to make do with meagre resources.
Carol has five grown children, 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Elder of the Year (Male) – Bob Muir
Leader, speaker, activist, mentor, and innovator – all are titles that can describe Bob Muir, whose deeds in the Central Queensland region over the past two decades have become the stuff of legend.
Born in 1958, Bob Muir is a descendant of the Woppaburra people of the Dharumbal nation.
Since the age of 24, Bob has devoted his life to three major goals:
- the retention of Woppaburra history
- the reclaiming of Crown land for the Woppaburra people and;
- the maintenance of cultural heritage sites.
Bob has been a powerhouse in the Central Queensland community, working with government agencies and higher education institutions to promote awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage and environmental protection issues.
He has mentored, influenced and educated students and young adults through programs instigated by Education Queensland and Greening Australia.
Through his diverse and tireless work, and a readiness to extend the hand of friendship, Bob has won respect and admiration for himself and built bridges between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
As an admirer observed, Bob has inspired others to believe that dreams can come true and, in pursuit of his dreams, he has touched many lives and achieved many things for his people and the Reconciliation process within Queensland and the nation.
Scholar of the Year – Dr Karen Martin
In 2006, Karen Martin received a doctorate from James Cook University for her work creating a research framework based on Aboriginal worldviews, knowledge and beliefs.
Karen has used this framework to show that detailed and useful research can be produced without diminishing Aboriginal voices, and that researchers can be most effective when they respect Aboriginal perspectives and traditions.
Karen is a Noonucal woman from North Stradbroke Island, and has Bidjara ancestry, from central Queensland. She has maintained a very strong sense of identity with the communities her family comes from, both in Brisbane and Stradbroke Island.
For her PhD, Karen earned the University Medal, putting her in the top five per cent of PhD scholars, as well as making her the only Aboriginal student to have earned this award. She went on to earn the Dissertation Award from the Australian Association for Research in Education. Karen’s published research has been cited by both Australian and international writers.
Karen has lectured and written extensively on Indigenous studies. She has been involved with numerous cultural awareness programs, and assisted with the development of policy direction for Queensland educators.
Karen, 46, now holds the position of Associate Professor of Early Childhood at Southern Cross University, Lismore. She is an expert member of an advisory panel for the Quality Working Group, which will look at quality measures in early childhood services, including preschools and childcare centres Australia-wide.
For the past 15 years, Karen has also been a member of the steering committee of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. In 2003, she part of an international Indigenous group to develop guidelines for First Nation Canadians’ early childhood policy in British Columbia.
Artist of the Year – Les Elvin
Les Elvin is an artist and art teacher who lives in Cessnock, NSW. He is a descendant of the Wonnaruah people of the Upper Hunter region in eastern NSW. Les has a deep love for his art and is committed to teaching the Wonnaruah style and techniques that are gradually being lost.
Les grew up on the banks of the Karuah River behind Port Stephens, where his grandfather taught him about bush tucker. Les’s paintings feature the ‘food chain of the bush tucker’ as he calls it. Paintings of echidna, platypus, turtle, stingray, crab and fish abound but also the kangaroo and that other all important ingredient in bush tucker – fire.
He is also an accomplished portrait artist, and has studied the traditions and art styles of other Indigenous nations across Australia.
His art has been recognised and sold internationally, but one of the things that makes Les unique is how he uses his talents. He volunteers at St Heliers Correctional Centre at Muswellbrook, teaching Aboriginal men about their culture and art.
He has organised formal exhibitions of their work, and money raised from selling art is given to their families or put aside for when they are released.
Les is also well-known for his leading of men’s groups and teaching art to groups of Aboriginal people in his studio, as well as his work with disadvantaged young people in the creation of numerous murals.
In 2005, he was commissioned to illustrate Bush Tucker in Kidney Disease and Diabetes, producing some beautiful paintings used in the successful book.
Sportsperson of the Year – Stacey Porter
The stellar career of softball champion Stacey Porter is adorned with a stack of representative honours and awards. Stacey first played representative softball for her hometown, Tamworth. In 2002, at the age of 20, she made her senior debut for Australia – becoming the first Indigenous Australian to represent her country in softball.
Stacey has now played for her country on 180 occasions, is an Olympic silver medallist and regarded as one of the best batters in the world.
She has captained a number of sporting teams and has shown the way not just through her skill at softball, but by motivating and supporting her teams. Now based in Sydney, Stacey visits her former schools whenever she returns to Tamworth and is an inspiration to the students. Stacey has not been afraid of moving away from home to pursue her dreams and this determination has taken her all over the world.
Stacey has played at the University of Hawaii on a softball scholarship from 2001-2003. She has also played in the professional softball league in Italy.
Throughout her career Stacey has won numerous awards, including Batter of the Series at three consecutive junior nationals (1997 to 1999), Most Valuable Player at the 2000 and 2001 under-19 nationals.
In 2004, Stacey won the NSW Female Softballer of the Year award and trumped that the following year, when she was named Australian Female Softballer of the Year.
Stacey also won a Deadly in 2005 for Indigenous Female Sportsperson of the Year.
Stacey achieved her dream to represent Australia on the biggest stage at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and will again represent her country at this year’s Beijing Olympics.
Apprentice of the Year – Amy McQuire
At 17, Amy McQuire’s flair for writing was strong enough that the National Indigenous Times newspaper convinced her to move from Rockhampton to Canberra to work full-time as a journalist. It would have been standard for Amy to complete her cadetship in three years – Amy will complete a double degree in journalism and international relations in two years, and her work with the National Indigenous Times has been anything but average.
At 18, Amy became the youngest member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery, and the gallery’s only Aboriginal reporter. Over the same period, she began laying out the front of the newspaper, a skill that normally requires about ten years’ experience. In addition to a fortnightly column titled Blackcurrent, she has written several feature articles.
With an Aboriginal and South Sea Islander heritage, she is devoted to issues of social justice for Indigenous people and has written on a wide range of contemporary and historical subjects.
Her editor at the National Indigenous Times calls Amy “quite simply, the most outstanding apprentice journalist I have seen in 20 years in the media”.
Youth of the Year – Angeline Blackburn
One of the emerging stars of Australian athletics, Angeline Blackburn will represent Australia in the 2008 World Juniors in Poland, where she is competing in the women’s 400m event.
It is the second time the 18-year-old has represented her country, having been previously selected for World Juniors held in China in 2006. She also represented Oceania as part of the Australian Open Women’s Team competing in Greece.
She first won an Australian national athletics title in the under 20s’ 400m while only 15 years old, a title she retained in 2008.
Angeline’s exciting athletic career is being matched by her academic achievements. She has commenced a double degree, studying for a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University in Canberra. To earn her place, she achieved an impressive score of 90 in her ACT Year 12 examinations.
Along with a string of awards earned while at school, Angeline was a finalist for the ACT NAIDOC Week Student of the Year in 2005. She was also presented with the Pierre De Coubertin Award, in recognition of sporting achievements and demonstration of endeavours consistent with the aims of the Olympic movement.
Originally from Cann River in Victoria, Angeline holds an ACT Sports Scholarship and is a member of the Indigenous Jumpstart to London Talent Squad, a development program which aims to increase the number of Indigenous athletes participating at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Youth of the Year – Krista Moir
Krista Moir is a law student at the University of Western Australia in Perth and a remarkable young leader in the community – a high achiever who has devoted her time helping others to achieve.
Krista distinguished herself at high school in Esperance, on the southern coast of WA. She won numerous academic achievement and excellence awards, was named Outstanding Aboriginal Student for five consecutive years between 2003 and 2007, and received the WA Outstanding Female Aboriginal Student Award in 2007.
At high school, Krista was a leader in her local Follow the Dream program, which helps Indigenous students to stay at school and work towards a university entrance. Krista encouraged fellow Indigenous students to remain dedicated to their studies, just as she remained dedicated to hers.
In 2007, Krista was presented the Esperance Shire District Positive Role Model Award and was also awarded the Pride of Australia Medal, for promoting peace, tolerance and understanding in her local community.
She was also selected on the Premier of Western Australia’s ANZAC student tour, travelling to France, Belgium and Turkey and acting as an ambassador for WA.
Her achievements in 2007, which culminated in her gaining entry to law studies at university, are made even more remarkable by the fact that Krista missed almost a semester of her final year due to illness.
Krista has been nominated for inclusion in the 2008 Who’s Who of Western Australia – a measure of how much she has already achieved.