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Volume 7, Wednesday December 8, 2010
Roxby Downs and Mimili to become ‘sister communities’ T
By Celeste Lustosa
he Roxby Downs Community Board is exploring a potential opportunity to develop a sister community relationship between Roxby Downs and the Aboriginal community of Mimili. Using a similar concept as the ‘sister city’ theme, this project is focused within the state of South Australia, with Roxby Downs entering into a partnership with another community. The indigenous community of Mimili has been identified as a potential partner. Mimili is an Anangu (Aboriginal) community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the north west of South Australia. It lies approximately 645 km south of Alice Springs. The population of Mimili ranges between 250 and 300 people, of which one third is youth, and includes a number of non-Aboriginal people who work in the community to support Anangu. Mimili has a senior Federal Government representative base in its community that could support a potential partnership with federal funds. A presentation was made in Roxby Downs, on December 1 by Government Business Manager of Mimili, Mark Weaver and it highlighted potential links for the two communities in the areas of health, arts, environment, sport, education and employment. “We are getting a better understanding of a joint agreement where we can assist and support each other in many areas in a way that brings us closer together.
“We want to understand what Roxby is all about so we will work with the Board,” Mr Weaver said. He said, education, cultural and touristic aspects as well as projects for the youth are going to be main focuses. “There might be some employment opportunities from this which will be a really good thing. “Mimili will benefit from getting a better understanding of another country remote area that is completely different because of its high employment coming from the mining industry,” he added. Mr Weaver also believes that the community spirit is characteristic to Roxby and Mimili will make the connection easier. According to Jamie Love, member of the Roxby Downs Board and the one who initiated the discussions for this project, the concept of a program such as this is new and an opportunity to develop an initiative as a national best practice model and set a benchmark around what can be achieved through community partnerships, with Roxby Downs leading the way. “We identified Mimili because it was one of the target communities of the Federal Government under the Gap Program. Within SA there are only two communities that fell in the categories to become Roxby’s sister community, and Mimili was the closest therefore made it the ideal option,” Mr Love, who knows the Mimili community well from past experiences, said. Continued on page 29
Amber amazed by Pageant
Three year old Amber Van Rooyen was amazed at the sight of Father Christmas when he arrived in Roxby on Saturday night. See all the fun photos and a report on this year’s outstanding Rotary Club Christmas Pageant on pages 26 and 27 in this issue.