Business News :: Great For The State :: Vol1, Issue 4 by GRAFFIK

GREAT

for the

STATE 1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

EDITION 4

12 PAGE LIFTOUT

INDIGENOUS DEVELOPMENT

Wyatt an advocate P6 Innes sets benchmarks

Collard heritage custodian

Kickett changing lives P10

McGuire business in the bloodline P5 Partners Barry McGuire Co-founder Redspear Safety Photo: Gabriel Oliveira

GREAT for the STATE

EDITION 4

Indigenous development Inclusion and collaboration to make WA great for all of us.

OUR PARTNERS – HELPING US SHAPE GREAT FOR THE STATE Katherine Martin General manager, People and HSEQT Macmahon

Providing sustainable opportunities in employment for Aboriginal people delivers positive outcomes for both business and indigenous Australians. By collaborating with business partners, we are able to effectively develop sustainable, entry-level traineeships for Aboriginal people that result in full-time employment, creating a ripple effect of positive economic and social outcomes for the next generation. Macmahon has built a culture that supports all individuals to be more in their careers through the support of mentoring, ongoing training and upskilling programs that work towards recognised qualifications that offer a real future in the mining industry. (See page 6)

Rob Slocombe Group CEO RAC Photo: LILA PHOTO

RAC believes reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-indigenous people is a key tenet to the social licence all Australian organisations should aspire to operate under. Through embracing and encouraging change, we will be well placed in our journey to increasing our understanding and becoming a true champion of reconciliation. (See page 7)

GREAT for the STATE Future editions Disruption July 29 Values and purpose August 26 Natural resources September 23 Generosity and giving October 21 Time and place November 18 Cultural growth December 16

Glen Kelly Director KPMG Indigenous Services

As a director of KPMG’s Indigenous services, and formerly CEO of both the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council and the National Native Title Council, much of my career has focused on promoting the rights of indigenous people and supporting indigenous businesses. I was also chief negotiator for the Noongar people in discussions with the WA government to achieve the South West Native Title Settlement – the largest of its type in Australia. Working together to improve policies and initiatives by government and industry has provided indigenous businesses with the opportunity to grow and flourish, creating huge dividends for indigenous communities and society as a whole. (See page 10)

Professor Helen Milroy Professor, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Psychiatry UWA

The University of Western Australia is committed to achieving excellence for indigenous people in all aspects of university life. The university also recognises that indigenous knowledge systems are a vital part of the knowledge capital of Australia, and values the unique contribution that indigenous people make. The need to meaningfully incorporate indigenous knowledge into higher education has been consistently highlighted and the university strives to improve indigenous participation and engage with indigenous knowledge. UWA is proud of its role in producing many successful indigenous scholars in many professional courses, particularly in law and medicine. Our indigenous researchers have worked hard to build connections with the state’s many indigenous communities, which has led to the development of many community and organisational partnerships, and this has produced innovative indigenous research to support these communities. (See page 12)

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

GREAT for the STATE

RAPs elevate words into tangible deeds

Reconciliation Action Plans are used by hundreds of organisations across Australia to deliver better outcomes. Story by Mark Beyer

he development and implementation of a Reconciliation Action Plan is an increasingly popular tool for organisations that want to translate good intentions toward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders into tangible deeds. More than 1,000 organisations across the country have an RAP. Leading the way are 24 organisations with an Elevate RAP. This means they have a proven track record of embedding effective initiatives to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their activities, and have a strong strategic relationship with Reconciliation Australia. This group of 24 includes mining and energy giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum, professional services firms Her-

bert Smith Freehills, KPMG and PwC, contractors such as Compass Group, Lendlease and Sodexo, along with several banks, universities and major corporates including Qantas and Telstra. Recently appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt is an enthusiastic advocate. “One of the best things that came out of the reconciliation process was the RAPs,” Mr Wyatt said at the launch earlier this year of Sodexo’s Elevate RAP. “The greatest joy is seeing the corporate sector take on with some rigour RAPs that weren’t just about employment; they were about a social construct that started to recognise the value and capacity and individuality of indigenous Australians in their organisation.”

Speaking at the same event was former Reconciliation Australia co-chair Fred Chaney. Mr Chaney said the reconciliation process was one of the country’s biggest challenges but he was encouraged by recent developments, with RAPs providing an action plan for the future. “I think Australia has made some fantastic progress and this company Sodexo is a wonderful example of that,” Mr Chaney said. Sodexo started its first RAP in 2009 and is one of only 10 organisations to have progressed to its second Elevate RAP. The French-owned company has 5,000 employees in Australia delivering multiple services such as catering, cleaning and maintenance, for mine camps, prisons and other clients.

ACTION Mark Chalmers (left) with Ken Wyatt, Reconciliation Australia’s chief executive Karen Mundine, and Fred Chaney.

Aboriginal people have comprised between 7 per cent and 8 per cent of Sodexo’s Australian workforce in recent years – the group is aiming for 10 per cent in the next three years. In addition, the group has spent $24 million with Aboriginal businesses over the past four years, with half of those businesses located in regional Australia. Its commitment for the next three years is to spend $10 million per year with Aboriginal businesses. Sodexo’s chief financial officer and country president, Mark Chalmers, said the group’s commitments extended more broadly. Sodexo hosted more than 50 events in the past year to boost Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural awareness among its people. It has an indigenous leadership team to provide expertise regarding recruitment, working with indigenous suppliers, community and cultural engagement.

Organisations with an Elevate RAP The group has sponsored multiple events such as cultural festivals, youth leadership programs, and sporting teams. “For our efforts in this space, we are one of 18 organisations that has been invited by United Nations Global Compact to include our indigenous engagement approach in a practical supplement to the UN Declara-

tion of Rights of Indigenous People,” Mr Chalmers told Business News. Looking ahead, Mr Chalmers said Sodexo was planning to help other businesses develop capability to implement effective RAPs. Sodexo is also planning to expand its Justice to Work program, thought which it provides pre-employment training and skills development for incarcerated women. “We are also looking to strengthen the governance of our RAP, with more indigenous representation on our steering committee and working groups,” Mr Chalmers said.

Activist role Organisations with RAPs have been at the forefront of a business sector push to promote the politically contentious Uluru Statement from the Heart. Released in 2017, it called for the establishment of a First Nations ‘voice’ in the Constitution and a commission on agreement making and truth telling. It was drafted at the end of a three-day convention of 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates. More than 50 prominent organisations have issued statements pledging their support for the Uluru Statement. BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie used a speech in Perth in January to endorse the proposal, which was followed by a joint statement with fellow miner Rio Tinto endorsing the statement. Woodside Petroleum, Curtin University, Lendlease and Qantas are among the many others to have pledged support. After being sworn in as minister, Mr Wyatt said the government was committed to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the Constitution (see page 6).

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

GREAT for the STATE

Helen Milroy • Professor of Child and Adolescent Studies at UWA • AFL indigenous commissioner • Honorary fellowship with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research

Milroy maintains fight for Australia’s children Helen Milroy believes courage, effort, and collaboration are needed to help heal intergenerational trauma suffered by indigenous Australians. Story by James Bowen

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

HE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse forced Australians to confront some hard truths about the safety of past, present and future generations of the nation’s children. Helen Milroy, who was one of the six commissioners on the five-year inquiry that finished in 2017, said the response, including from state and federal governments, had been amazing both during and after the investigation. “There have been a lot of really good things that have happened already,” she said. “People are making changes to policies and procedures and programs to keep children safe.” A professor of Child and Adolescent Studies at the University of Western Australia, she is determined to maintain the progress after the initial positive reaction to the findings. Professor Milroy intends to un-

dertake significant clinically relevant research into how the type of trauma the commission identified affects children, and how Australian society deals with this. This work will be advanced through a recently announced honorary fellowship with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, where Professor Milroy has helped develop the child mental health program Embrace, and her existing role at UWA. Professor Milroy’s work is particularly focused on achieving positive outcomes for the Australian indigenous community, of which she is a member as one of the Palyku people of the Pilbara. “I don’t think that as a nation we’ve fully understood the level and magnitude of trauma Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children and people have been through,” she said. “It’s still going to take a lot of courage, a lot of effort and a lot of collaboration to get things right.”

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

Professor Milroy said mental health was a complex issue and one for which it was difficult to measure progress, which helped to explain why it had only recently made it onto the agenda of indigenous health programs such as Close the Gap. Lessons from the royal commission about the resilience and life skills participation in sport can provide to children has also informed Professor Milroy’s approach to her recent appointment as the Australian Football League’s first indigenous commissioner. The role will involve work at both the grassroots level and with the elite members of the league itself, who she said were not immune to the challenges with mental health. Professor Milroy sees this increasing acknowledgement of the universality of such challenges as another positive attitude change occurring in Australian society.

“It’s really great that mental health has really hit everyone’s agenda and hopefully, if we are a much more sympathetic and compassionate society, we can get some of these problems dealt with earlier or even prevent them,” she said. Professor Milroy, who was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from medicine anywhere in Australia and received considerable healing inspiration from her grandmother, strongly promotes the effectiveness of traditional care and encourages all those seeking to provide for the indigenous community’s mental health needs to recognise its virtues. “We had our traditional healers. We also had extensive kinship systems and networks, which allowed people to be cared for,” she said.

“And whenever you have a cross-cultural context like we have now in the present day, then you need to be able to understand what the belief systems and what the experiences are for that particular group to be able to provide the best care.” One final role with which Professor Milroy has taken to with great enthusiasm is that of author of children’s books such as Wombat, Mudlark and Other Stories, which is forthcoming through Fremantle Press. While this might initially seem a departure from her established workload, she sees it as fully in keeping with the same rich cultures of imagery and storytelling that traditionally contributed to the health and wellbeing of indigenous Australians.

There have been a lot of really good things that have happened already… people are making changes to policies and procedures and programs to keep children safe

GREAT for the STATE

W We’re very proud … that we’re standing up with the big boys and working with the majors

McGuire business in the bloodline Barry McGuire says Redspear Safety’s recent emergence has been built on tailoring its offering to what customers need. Story by James Bowen

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

Barry McGuire • Co-founder/co-director Redspear Safety • Co-founder of Redspear Foundation charity • Reconciliation WA board member

estern Australians often reflect on where current levels of economic activity stand relative to the resources-fuelled boom of years past. But for Barry McGuire, cofounder and co-director of Bayswater-based Redspear Safety, the reference points for assessing progress are necessarily quite different. The Ballardong and Whadjuk Noongar man says the fallow period the broader economy suffered around 2013-14 was actually something of an asset for his Aboriginal-owned and majority staffed safety equipment firm, which serves customers across mining, oil and gas, marine construction and related sectors. “We took it in a different stride and we got to talk to people about how the business would fit,” Mr McGuire said of the process of eventually establishing Redspear in 2015. “We were able to talk to people over and over and it took two years for us to stand up and build up a foundation.” There now appears considerable support for the soundness of this approach, with corporate entities such as Fortescue Metals Group, Santos, and a number of marine companies signed on as clients; in addition, there are plans for a soon-to-be-announced business addition in the works. Mr McGuire said Redspear had made significant strides to the point where it now provided a good fit for the big industry players. “The industry can see us as Aboriginal people, but when it comes to our operations it’s just like any other Australian company,” he said. “We’re very proud … that we’re standing up with the big boys and working with the majors.” It helped that Mr McGuire worked for many years in and around mining and other sectors the company now services. His experience registering new businesses during corporate affairs roles, for example, provided valuable knowledge around the processes involved. Another commercial asset has been the closeknit team of fellow company managers with which he works, consisting of wife, Liza, and South Africa-raised Francois Witbooi. Their shared interests stretch beyond business

and into the creative field; Mr McGuire is a fine artist, Ms McGuire a co-founder of the fashion-focused Jinnali Productions, and Mr Witbooi a trained concert pianist and Black Swan State Theatre Company board member. All three also possess a strong desire to extend opportunities for full participation in society, economic or otherwise, to people from all backgrounds. Indeed Mr Witbooi first encountered the McGuires while he was based at Many Rivers Microfinance, where he helped them establish an earlier business venture. Mr McGuire notes that Redspear was also founded with an intention of complementing rather than cannibalising other Aboriginal businesses, which even extends to sharing available work. “At every level that we work with in industry, if we can connect major corporates to Aboriginal businesses and bring them Aboriginal ideas from within our community, we’re not going to say ‘Well we can do that’; we’re going to provide others those opportunities,” Mr McGuire said. The McGuires are, in turn, co-founders of a still-emerging charity called Redspear Foundation, whose aims include connecting elders and their accumulated cultural knowledge with members of younger generations, and providing financial assistance for youth participation in extracurricular activities such as sport. Mr McGuire is additionally a board member of Reconciliation WA. He is eager to celebrate recent achievements in this area, including the appointment of Ken Wyatt as the first indigenous person to serve as federal minister for indigenous Australians. While lamenting that the pace of this progress remained slow and generations of individuals who fought so hard to achieve it had not lived to see its realisation, Mr McGuire said it was a “blessed time to know that this start of a change has come”. This story of hard work by previous generations bearing fruit is also a deeply personal one for Mr McGuire. While his father held ambitions of building a company of his own, his and his wife’s sacrifices in providing a city education to their Kellerberrin-raised family were ultimately critical to Mr McGuire and several of his brothers going on to establish their own ventures. If the McGuires have their way, those past efforts will one day combine with their own hard work to allow their 10- and 15-year-old sons to take charge of the Redspear operations.

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

GREAT for the STATE

Ken Wyatt has overcome numerous challenges on the path to becoming the most powerful advocate for Aboriginal Australians. Story by Mark Beyer

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

lways quietly spoken and deferential, Ken Wyatt recently shared the story of when Prime Minister Scott Morrison phoned to offer him the job of minister for indigenous Australians. The first Aboriginal to hold the job, Mr Wyatt admits he gasped and was overcome with emotion. “It took me about two minutes before I was able to say yes, be-

Ken Wyatt • 2010: Elected to parliament • Aged care, indigenous health minister (2017-19) • Minister for indigeous Australians (2019-)

cause I realised what he was asking,” Mr Wyatt told a Reconciliation Week breakfast. “I realised the implications of the journey I would take over the next three years.” Mr Wyatt describes his current job as a privilege; it’s also an indication of how far Australia has come since his youth. “Any of us old enough to remember the 1950s and 1960s

Wyatt’s old wounds still scarred

Macmahon supports youth development Macmahon has a long history designing traineeships and development programs for Indigenous people through our Doorn-Djil Yoordaning business. Currently, 5.5% of our workforce identify as Indigenous. As a business, we are proud of our commitment that has seen us exceed our own targets. As our business continues to grow, we are in a strong position to provide further entry level employment opportunities to young Aboriginal people that will increase their skill levels via on the job training, mentoring and dedicated support programs to improve retention rates.

We are working to provide skills and training to open up future opportunities for young Indigenous Australians and earlier this year, we collaborated with civil contracting company Carey Mining and our Tropicana Joint Venture Partners AngloGold Ashanti and Independence Group, to develop a highly successful Operator Traineeship “Get into Mining”. Eight candidates graduated with a Certificate II in Surface Extraction Operations and are now working in traineeships across the mining and exploration departments at the Tropicana Gold Mine. Following the successful Alliance program at Tropicana, we continue to work with our client Newcrest at the Telfer Gold Mine with a focus on engaging with the local Indigenous community and identifying opportunities for meaningful employment. After conducting site visits and tailoring our assessments to consider Aboriginal culture, we are pleased to now have 9% of our Telfer workforce identify as Indigenous. Operations at the Argyle Diamond Mine have been part of Macmahon’s portfolio of surface mining projects since 2005. This ongoing, consistently well performing project, boasts an 80% Aboriginal experienced workforce. Over on our east coast, operations at the Byerwen Coal mine organically employs 17% Indigenous Australians from the Jaanga group.

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

Macmahon also proudly encourages all of our employees to strive to reach their full potential. Our most recent success story is one of a truly inspirational young Aboriginal man who joined the business as a trainee operator and thanks to his own hard work, dedication and the continued support of senior management, he has recently qualified as a Mining Engineer and is now undertaking his next challenge of attaining his Quarry Manager’s ticket. Katherine Martin, Macmahon General Manager – People & HSEQT

BE MORE.

macmahon.com.au (08) 9232 1000

GREAT for the STATE

will know we have come a long, long way,” he said. Mr Wyatt was born in 1952, the oldest of 10 children. His father was a railway ganger and his mother was a member of the Stolen Generations. “In those days they had to get permission to marry, permission to travel, and they could be arrested if they were out after 6pm and not back on the designated sites called Aboriginal reserves,” Mr Wyatt said. “If the department of native welfare came around and thought you weren’t providing good care, they could take your children away.” Mr Wyatt recalls his parents, and especially his grade one teacher at Corrigin – who later campaigned for him in Hasluck – had a lasting impact through their commitment to his education. In light of this experience, it’s no surprise that his top priority is improved schooling/education outcomes for Aboriginal children, closely followed by tackling youth suicide, finding real jobs, and delivering better health services. Mr Wyatt is not shy about sharing some of the challenges he has overcome.

“The primary school teacher who told me I should leave school because I wouldn’t get a job as an adult,” he recalled. “The birthday party where children didn’t come because I was there. “The emails I was sent when I first ran for Hasluck 10 years ago, a throwback to the 1950s. “Those things scar you and of course they hurt, but they don’t define you. “I apply the same lens to our larger journey of reconciliation. “Yes we acknowledge the suffering and wounds; indeed we can’t go forward unless we tell the truth about the past, but every step we take, every progression we make, is because of hope, because of optimism.” Before entering politics, Mr Wyatt had a successful career as a public servant, after an inauspicious start. “In our youth, they created 50D positions for us to be able to have our jobs,” he said. “The expectation was that if you had a 50D position you were only ever capable of being an Aboriginal person doing an Aboriginal job.” He is now thrilled to see many

Aboriginal people holding senior and respected roles. Mr Wyatt points to milestones such as the 1967 referendum and the land rights act of the 1970s as evidence of progress. “In the decades since, I have seen a significant cultural shift in our thinking,” he says. He credits the reconciliation movement and the work of Pat Dodson, who is now a Labor senator and political opponent. The regular surveys undertaken by Reconciliation Australia encourage Mr Wyatt’s optimism. “The latest study shows the overwhelming majority of Australians believe the linkages between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians are important, and that knowing our history and truth telling are vital to this relationship,” he said. “Eighty per cent support a formal truth-telling process and 95 per cent agree it’s important Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a say in the matters that affect them.” Mr Wyatt acknowledged the Closing the Gap process failed, saying the core problem was that it was a top-down process. “We need to partner with peo-

ple on the ground so they can drive community-led initiatives,” he said, adding that policy would be made in conjunction with indigenous Australians. “I believe it’s only through genuine partnerships and walking together that we will solve our problems,”: Mr Wyatt said. “We need to jettison forever the historic mindset of our people as passive recipients of services and programs. “We need instead partnerships based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.” As part of this process, Mr Wyatt said the government was committed to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the Constitution. There have been five formal inquiries in the past eight years on this topic. Mr Wyatt said more work needed to be done on what model was taken to a referendum. The government has backed this up with a commitment of $7.3 million for consultation and the joint design of models to improve local and regional decision-making and options for constitutional recognition.

We can’t go forward unless we tell the truth about the past, but every step we take, every progression we make, is because of hope, because of optimism

SPONSORED CONTENT

Waart Koorling (On the move) According to Reconciliation Australia there has been an increase in organisations taking real action to support reconciliation. These are encouraging trends for all Australians. Reconciliation should at its most fundamental level be a values-based proposition and support a diverse and empowered workforce. RAC’s own formal commitment to reconciliation commenced with the introduction of our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) more than five years ago. The RAP program includes a series of frameworks (Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate), each offering a different level of engagement and support. RAC’s Reflect RAP was launched in 2014 and was followed by our Innovate RAP in 2016. We are now progressing toward a Stretch RAP which will further embed important reconciliation practices and values into the fabric of RAC. Some changes have been small; all of our meeting rooms now have Aboriginal names (and their corresponding meanings), we have acknowledgement of traditional owner protocols which teams use prior to meetings and we provide corporate wardrobe options that feature bespoke Aboriginal designs. Other approaches are of a larger scale and aim to improve the socio-economic

outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people including: • Delivering road safety education to remote schools and communities; • Hosting Aboriginal cadetships; • Diversifying supply chains; and • Consultation towards a Cultural Centre at RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. We are particularly proud of our Community Ambassador Program. Through a partnership with Jawun — a not-for profit that builds capacity and empowers Indigenous people and their communities — RAC people can apply for a six-week secondment in the Kimberley region where they use their skills to support local communities. Equally as important as doing, is understanding; which is why we go to great lengths to measure the difference we’re making both within our organisation and across Western Australian communities. Organisations are in a unique position to champion true reconciliation in Australia. Those which embrace the opportunity by embedding it into their culture and strategic planning will be best prepared for the Australia of tomorrow. Rob Slocombe Group CEO, RAC

Waart Koorling (on the move…) By artists Wendy Hayden & Joanna Robertson Commissioned by RAC

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

GREAT for the STATE

I think for me the biggest part of it [the Uluru Statement] was the consultation and, even though not everyone agreed, that we are still moving forward

Setting new benchmarks for Aboriginal inclusion Carol Innes is heartened by the positive steps already taken towards reconciliation, despite the enormous amount of ground still to be covered. Story by James Bowen

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

erth’s Yagan Square has had a big impact on the look and feel of the city centre since it opened in 2018, and perhaps more significantly it has redefined the way such redevelopments relate to the Aboriginal heritage of the land on which they are located. One of the individuals most responsible for the project coming together in this manner was LandCorp’s Cultural Heritage and Arts manager, Carol Innes. Ms Innes said Yagan Square, which won several major planning awards, was the first redevelopment of its kind worldwide to take the voices and stories of traditional owners into account from the beginning of the process through to incorporation in the final design.

“Rather than trying to create a sense of place with building and materials we do it with the telling of stories,” she said. “Because the land was always there, how do you enhance the place? You can’t create a sense of place – a sense of place was always there.” Ms Innes, who has also worked for the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, in addition to many other cultural heritage and arts organisations, is now applying this approach to new challenges such as the redevelopment of Subiaco Oval. This is at the same time as the Perenjori-raised member of the Whadjuk, Wilman and Ballardong Noongar people devotes con-

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

siderable energy to the work of Reconciliation WA, where she is a co-chair. Ms Innes was buoyed by the success of the organisation’s flagship breakfast in May, which attracted 1,300 people and was the largest-ever breakfast hosted by Crown Perth. “It was like the hottest ticket in town,” Ms Innes said of the event, the highlight of which was an emotional speech by newly appointed federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt. Ms Innes said Reconciliation WA had achieved remarkable outcomes despite its limited resources. “Although we don’t have the regional reach we would like, the people we work with do have that, so we’ve been working

Carol Innes • LandCorp Cultural Heritage and Arts manager • Co-chair, Reconciliation WA • Worked with Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority, South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council

cleverer and smarter with organisations,” she said. “We’ve done it in a way that everyone has come with us on the journey rather than a competitive process of looking to meet a RAP [Reconciliation Action Plan] requirement.” Ms Innes is further heartened by the positive steps towards reconciliation represented by the movement for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the stirring sentiments advanced in 2017’s landmark Uluru Statement from the Heart. “I think for me the biggest part of it [the Uluru Statement] was the consultation and, even though not everyone agreed, that we are still moving forward,” Ms Innes said, adding that the framework for future reconciliation efforts governments must act on was now set. Having experienced considerable social exclusion and racism during her schooling at Morawa, at a time when most Aboriginal children remained confined to the local mission, Ms Innes

knows how long it can take for the necessary gears of change to be set in motion. She said she did not understand the significance of her upbringing until she started attending university and began to ask probing questions of her cultural roots. “We were okay to include in sports but we weren’t okay to have friends over or be at friends’ houses,” Ms Innes said of her youth in Morawa, which nonetheless contributed to a strong desire to change the world for the better. For a sense of positive and permanent change to be achieved for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Ms Innes sees the only answer as being the advancement of a form of reconciliation advocated for at Uluru and for Australians to finally see Australia for what it actually is – a “country that was settled upon a lie”. “We want to make that lie change and for Australia to be an inclusive place for all,” she said.

GREAT for the STATE

Collard custodian of Noongar heritage Len Collard • Chief investigator UWA School of Indigenous Studies • Research work with Australian Research Council, National Trust of Western Australia, Swan River Trust

Len Collard has embraced his destiny to educate a broad audience about Noongar culture and history. Story by James Bowen

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

hadjuk Noongar elder and chief investigator in the University of Western Australia’s School of Indigenous Studies, Len Collard, has a strong respect for the natural order of things. However, that doesn’t mean his many achievements have come without significant effort on either his part or that of other members of the Noongar community. Professor Collard says the origins of his work to spread awareness and understanding of traditional language and culture come from a particular view of the universe, as well as critical guidance he received from Noongar elders and visionaries. These conversations helped to determine that there would be a

growing need for the expertise he would go on to possess and share with the wider world. “Your destiny is in some senses chosen for you, but it’s whether you also choose to accept it and put in the necessary work, that is the question,” Professor Collard told Business News. A study of his career to date suggests he has taken up the challenge with enthusiasm and success. For several decades, Professor Collard has undertaken extensive research into the traditional culture and heritage of WA’s South West for the Australian Research Council, National Trust of Western Australia, and the Swan River Trust. He also imparts knowledge to more than 500 students of

We talk about truth and reconciliation … so we can only tell the truth about what these places are named and why they are named that

his Boodjar Moort Katijin (land/ country, family/relations, knowledge/science) unit at UWA and has worked on ambitious projects such as pursuit of a ‘Noongar Wikipedia’. Support for his work has also proved correct Noongar elders’ early expectations of there being increasing future demand for such efforts. “Going back 20 or 30 years if you look at the public record, was there a lot of demand for Noongar language and culture, dancing, wearing kangaroo skin cloaks, smoking ceremonies?” Professor Collard asked. “Probably not. But things have changed a lot since then; a lot of people have set up business models around that.” Professor Collard said there was also strong demand for indigenous studies at universities other than UWA, which had resulted in an increased level of understanding of the roots of modern Australia and what “makes us Australian”. He sees Noongar culture exerting a similarly considerable

and unbroken influence on other aspects of contemporary life, including the language of traditional owners being the “major corruptor of the way we speak in the South West of WA”. Much of Professor Collard’s ongoing research focuses on clarifying and expanding knowledge around such language connections, with particular attention to geographical locations. He said about 5,000 place names of Noongar origin were currently in use in WA, although the first European documenters of many did not always note correct, or often any, associated meanings. Wider efforts to fill knowledge gaps around commonly used names and revive awareness of some seemingly lost to public consciousness are currently in the spotlight. Prominent among them are a City of Fremantle proposal to officially apply the traditional name Walyalup to its surrounding area. This follows successful moves to increase awareness and us-

age of Noongar nomenclature elsewhere, such as growing references to Derbal Yerrigan (the Swan River). While some may attribute such outcomes to conscious decisions on the parts of the diverse 21st century inhabitants of the surrounding areas, Professor Collard instead highlights the triumph of Noongar traditions. “We talk about truth and reconciliation … so we can only tell the truth about what these places are named and why they are named that,” he said. While acknowledging the communal strength of Noongar heritage, Professor Collard is aware of the importance of stewards, of whom he is one, and those he is helping follow in his footsteps “The work that I am involved in will continue the Noongar role in caring for boodjar, moort and katitjin,” he said. “My role in sustaining our relationships on, in and over country, will then be taken up by future generations.”

1 July 2019 | businessnews.com.au

GREAT for the STATE

Glass Jar more than half full for multi-skilled Kickett Among her many talents, Glenda Kickett is drawing on her sports experience to boost school attendance rates for indigenous girls. Story by James Bowen

Photo by Gabriel Oliveira

he list of organisations with which Glenda Kickett has worked in a storied career as social worker, administrator and educator is extensive. The list of children and young people whose lives she has greatly improved along the way is likely incalculable. Ms Kickett, a Whadjuk and Ballardong Noongar woman, serves as manager for Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander engagement at the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF), chair of NAIDOC Perth, and chair of netball-focused Aboriginal youth development initiative Glass Jar Australia. Despite establishing the social work background that underpins her many professional achievements through a somewhat unplanned series of events, Ms

Kickett is eager to see many more young Aboriginal people follow in her footsteps. “There’s been a big drive [for Aboriginal people to undertake studies] in law and medicine and that’s fine, but social workers do so much in the community and they can change people’s lives,” Ms Kickett told Business News. A primary target of her current work – and that of recent indigenous-focused social work in general – has been responding to issues of childhood and intergenerational trauma arising from forced removals and other disruption of communities and families. “It has taken us a long time to start talking about it,” Ms Kickett said.