The Nationwide NAIDOC Awards are a possibility to acknowledge and have fun the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who go above and past to contribute to and combat for the preservation of our cultures and communities.
The Elder Award celebrates an Elder whose dedication to folks, tradition and future generations has been lifelong and has left an indelible impression of their communities.
This 12 months, the awards ceremony will kick off on Saturday, July 1 and can be broadcast on NITV from 7.30pm AEST.
Let’s meet the exceptional Elders nominated for his or her contributions on the 2023 Nationwide NAIDOC Awards.
Feminine Elder Award nominees
Dr Aunty Bilawara Lee
Aunty Bilawara Lee is nominated her limitless work in her neighborhood and past, the place she brings folks collectively together with her information of tradition and spirituality.
Aunty Bilawara’s information of language, tradition and spirituality runs deep.
As a proud Larrakia girl, she additionally shares the title Bilawara with the red-tailed cockatoo – an Ancestral spirit that brings about change.
Her dedication to her neighborhood has resulted in varied accolades and led to worldwide recognition, as an writer of two books (Star Dreaming and Therapeutic from the Dilly Bag) and as a facilitator of a lot sought-after workshops on Aboriginal spirituality and therapeutic.
At residence, Aunty Bilawara continues to be a beacon of information and perseveration for Larrakia folks.
She is recognised by the Larrakia neighborhood as a Gurdimin-ba Bali, a spirit Physician, a healer and instructor of the traditional wisdoms of Aboriginal Spirituality and Therapeutic and she or he usually organises and cooks a month-to-month lunch and gathering for varied neighborhood teams together with the Larrakia Nation Elders group, the Danila Dilba Stolen Technology and the Stolen Technology Organisation.
In April 2023, Aunty Bilawara was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Charles Darwin College for her work in well being, schooling, cultural and religious work.
Aunty Dr Matilda Home-Williams
Aunty Dr Matilda Home-Williams is nominated for her tireless work in Indigenous Affairs on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Nation. Credit score: Blacklock Media
Aunty Matilda is a powerhouse with deep roots in advocacy and activism.
As a proud Ngambri (Kamberri) Wallabalooa (Ngunnawal) and Wiradyuri Elder, Aunty Matilda has been concerned in Indigenous Affairs on her Ancestral Nation within the Canberra area since 1963.
There, she labored in neighborhood and educated Australians on the Sure vote for the 1967 referendum earlier than working as an Aboriginal liaison / social officer on the Division of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra, aiding Aboriginal folks with well being, schooling, welfare and employment.
Aunty Matilda’s advocacy has seen her play key roles in establishing many well-known and very important providers and organisations for Aboriginal folks together with the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Authorized Service, Winnunga-Nimmityjah and founding the Ngambri Land Council alongside her brothers.
As a fierce Blak Matriarch, Aunty Matilda continues to be a mainstay of her neighborhood.
Even in retirement, she continues to work tirelessly, illustrating kids’s books accessible in ACT faculties, creating work for exhibitions and offering mentorship and help to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folks.
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM
Aunty Dr Miriam-Rose is nominated for her contributions to Aboriginal schooling, artwork and psychological well being in her neighborhood. Credit score: Salty Dingo
You in all probability recognise Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann.
The proud Ngan’giwumirri girl and Elder from Nauiyu has devoted her life to enhancing instructional outcomes for Aboriginal kids as a famend artist, educator and public speaker.
Because the Northern Territory’s first totally certified Aboriginal instructor and a life-long painter who believes schooling is the way in which ahead, Aunty Miriam-Rose has advocated for the inclusion of visible artwork and Aboriginal tradition in each youngster’s schooling.
This perception and advocacy have led to main curriculum reforms.
Aunty Miriam-Rose’s work has even prolonged past artwork and schooling. In 2013, she established the Miriam Rose Basis to fight youth suicides in the neighborhood after the lack of her nephew. The Basis, which helps kids in her hometown of Nauiyu, goals to offer an area the place youth really feel they belong and are valued of their neighborhood by way of schooling, alternative, artwork and tradition.
Aunty Miriam-Rose’s physique of labor was celebrated on the nationwide stage when she grew to become a Member of the Order of Australia and once more in 2021, when she was named Senior Australian of the Yr.
Male Elder Award Class
Pastor Dennis Phillip Jetta OAM
Pastor Dennis Phillip Jetta is nominated for his in depth work in Aboriginal employment sharing Noongar tradition.
Pastor Dennis Phillip Jetta says serving to folks has been his ardour his entire life.
“I’ve a ardour for working with folks and making an attempt to help them – that’s why I gained’t quit.”
The Noongar Elder left faculty at 14 years outdated to begin a logging job, earlier than occurring to have varied stockman jobs all through Western Australia within the 70s and early 80s, when he was offered with a possibility that will change the course of his life.
“The key a part of my life would have begun in 1984,” he stated. “I used to be provided a trainee clerical assistant job with the Commonwealth Employment Service in Bunbury. From that trainee place, I used to be in a position to achieve a full-time place with the Aboriginal employment department.”
This transfer was the catalyst for Uncle Dennis’ 30-year-long profession within the employment business serving to Aboriginal folks achieve employment. He would oversee 190 Aboriginal trainees.
Buoyed by his ardour, expertise and information, Uncle Dennis co-founded the Noongar Employment and Enterprise Growth Aboriginal Company (NEEDAC) and Noongar Property Holdings and created much more employment alternatives for Aboriginal folks.
Now in semi-retirement, he stays lively in his Pastoral duties and as a Senior Elder within the Larger Bunbury Aboriginal Elders Group, he shares Noongar tradition by way of delivering Welcome to Nation ceremonies and Cultural Consciousness Coaching to a number of organisations throughout Western Australia.
He has been recognised with varied awards, together with being offered with an Order of Australia Medal in Might this 12 months and says he’s happy with what he has and continues to perform.
Uncle Tom Slockee has been nominated for his achievements in pioneering secure and inexpensive Aboriginal housing. Credit score: Blacklock Media
Uncle Tom Slockee is a staunch pioneer and chief.
With steadfast dedication, fuelled by his personal expertise of racism, the Butchulla man grew to become the chief of a motion spanning six a long time that supplied safe and inexpensive housing for Aboriginal folks, altering the lives of individuals throughout New South Wales and the nation.
After serving within the Australian Military in pursuit of higher alternatives, Uncle Tom met his spouse and settled on the South Coast. Right here, he discovered many Aboriginal folks struggling to search out secure and accessible housing, together with himself. After he was repeatedly refused personal leases in Batemans Bay due to the color of his pores and skin, he would embark on a life-long combat for housing justice for Aboriginal folks.
Uncle Tom was concerned within the early progress of the Aboriginal neighborhood housing and land council actions – founding Batemans Bay Aboriginal Housing Company in 1985 – he was additionally the primary Aboriginal councillor of Eurobodalla Shire, later Deputy Mayor, and was a member, then chairperson, of the Aboriginal Housing Growth Committee which suggested the NSW Housing Minister and would result in the passing of the NSW Aboriginal Housing Act (1998) which established the NSW Aboriginal Housing Workplace.
Since then, he has achieved and contributed to many very important providers offering secure and inexpensive housing for Aboriginal folks.
His principal purpose? Uncle Tom says it’s to move on knowledge and information to the following technology of rising Australian leaders and is eager to make sure sturdy establishments and community-controlled organisations are in place to serve future generations.
Uncle William Tilmouth
Uncle William Tilmouth is nominated for his contributions to neighborhood, Aboriginal well being and the futures of First Nations kids. Credit score: Youngsters’s Floor
Uncle William Tilmouth has devoted his life to his folks.
As a member of the Stolen Generations, the proud Arrernte man was taken to Croker Island Mission from his residence in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). He returned in 1980 and hasn’t left since.
What adopted was a lifetime devoted to enhancing the lives of others.
First, as a neighborhood employee for Tangentyere Council supporting individuals who had been homeless by creating shelters, offering fundamental wants and supporting younger folks on the Alice Springs Youth Help Providers. Then because the Government Director of Tangentyere Council, elected by the Elders and a place he would maintain for greater than 20 years.
After his time on the Council, Uncle William grew to become the Chair of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Well being Service and later, the founding Chair of the ground-breaking organisation, Youngsters’s Floor.
Tilmouth continues to be a recognised and revered chief within the Northern Territory and all through Australia whose work will empower future generations of First Nations kids.
Right here the opposite Nationwide NAIDOC Week Award Finalists
Nationwide Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Aunty Dr Naomi Mayers OAM
Caring for Nation and Tradition Award
METRONET Noongar Reference Group
Aurora Training Basis
Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Baby and Household Centre
Passing the Message Stick
The NAIDOC Awards ceremony can be broadcast on NITV from 7.30pm AEST on Saturday, 1 July.
