Ma & Morley Newsletter October - November 2023

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2023

Ma & Morley Newsletter

2 DAY INDIGENOUS IMMERSION Stage 1 Scholars visited Mt Sugarloaf, Baiame Cave and Murrook for a 2 day on Country immersion with cultural educators; Dave Newham, Uncle Paul Gordon, Justin Ridgeway and Peter Detourbet.

APPLICATIONS CLOSED Applications for 2024 round of Ma & Morley Scholarships have closed, and shortlisting and selection is now complete. The Program team will make conditional offers this week. Thank you to our Scholars who sat on selection panels! We are so excited to welcome a new cohort of incredible Scholars.

What’s been happening?

CHINESE LANGUAGE COURSE The Chinese language class, organised by the Confucius Institute, is now underway with a mix of Scholars who have recently been to China or are yet to attend the China immersion.

AMBASSADOR EVENT: HISTORY IS CALLING Ma & Morley Ambassador, Jasmin L’Green, hosted our recent Ambassador event: History is Calling. An incredibly interesting & important discussion on the Voice Referendum with 2021 Scholar, Mitch Whaley as MC and panelists; Jasmin L’Green (Ma & Morley Ambassador), James Ballangarry (Academic & Researcher with CEEHE) , Kishaya Delaney (Ma & Morley Ambassador) & Amy Maguire (Associate Professor, School of Law & Justice). Thank you so much to Jasmin L’Green for organising this event!

REFLECT & SHARE: STAGES 1, 2 & 3 Stage 1 Scholars gathered to reflect on the year that was and get excited for the year ahead. Stage 2 & 3 Scholars came together to also reflect briefly on the year and hear from Stage 3 Scholars on the progress of their Action Projects.

2023 SCHOLAR AWARDS Each College and Wollotuka have hosted an awards ceremony for students who have received a Scholarship this year. These events have been wonderful opportunities to thank donors, celebrate the achievements of Scholars and spend time with the Morleys!

I MADE THIS FOR U A massive congratulations to Sophia & Elise who hosted their charity art exhibition ‘I MADE THIS FOR U’ as part of their Stage 3 Action Project. With over 100 pieces of art donated, live music & a great raffle – Sophia & Elise raised close to $1600 for Soul Hub!! Wonderful to see a great turn out of Scholars too!

Program team update TRIENNIAL REVIEW The second Ma & Morley Triennial Review took place on October 16 with alumna, Amy Tribe (M PubHealth, 2020) as Chair and panelists Prof Kent Anderson, Nathan Towney, Maggie Zhou and Ma & Morley Ambassador, Jasmin L’Green. The Triennial Review considered the last three years of the Program, and conducted interviews with the Program team, CEEHE, current Scholars and Ambassadors and a Morley family representative. Following deliberations, the Panel will outline commendations and recommendations, which will provide guidance to take the Program forward over the next three years. We are so grateful to the Scholars and Ambassadors who graciously offered their time to be interviewed. Also, a massive thank you to all those who completed the Scholar & Ambassador survey!

SCHOLAR CHARTER The Scholar Charter is now complete – you can access it here. It is available on the website, under the Scholarships section. Please familiarise yourself with this document – it will guide the implementation of the Scholarship Program from next year. We will hold an information session to talk through the Scholar Charter & answer any questions. Keep your eyes peeled on Slack 

MA & MORLEY GALA The Ma & Morley Gala is coming up on Wednesday 29 November! This year, it will be a sit-down dinner in the Great Hall (with canapes & drinks in the courtyard beforehand). We can’t wait to celebrate the year with you all – please ensure you RSVP via the Humanitix link in your invitation ASAP (which was emailed to you). Please let Katie know if you have not received your invitation. 2023 Scholars are invited to bring along one guest.

If you are graduating in 2023, could you please let Maryanne or Katie know – Ambassadors will be presented with a certificate at the Gala & we would love to include everyone!

What’s next?

MENTORING PROGRAM In the recent Reflect & Share sessions, we gave an update on the mentoring program. All incoming 2024 Scholars will be matched with a mentor next year, so we are on the hunt for lots of mentors! If you are interested in mentoring an incoming Scholar next year, please fill in this EOI form.

It is totally up to you as a mentor how you structure this relationship – you could meet for coffee 1 or 2 times throughout the year, you could be a point of contact for any uni related questions, or you could go to the gym together.

The idea is to work within your time commitments 

WELCOME PROGRAM FACILITATION There is an opportunity for Scholars to assist facilitation of the Welcome Program for incoming 2024

We hope that having a mentor will make the transition to university a little easier for our incoming 2024 cohort.

There will also be an opportunity for all Scholars to be

Scholars. This will involve two days of training with Polykala in January & Scholars must have

mentored in 2024 – we will have more information before the

attended the Leadership Intensive to be eligible. This is a paid position and a huge opportunity to

end of the year.

further develop your skills. We will be putting out an EOI on Slack later in the year, so please keep your eyes out!

Other opportunities BEHROUZ BOOCHANI IN CONVERSATION Sunday 3 December 4pm - 5.15pm Award-winning Kurdish-Iranian journalist, writer, filmmaker, and human rights activist Behrouz Boochani will speak to Fiona Kelly McGregor about his most recent book Freedom, Only Freedom.

Boochani will share his stories of resilience and shed light on Australian refugee policies. There will be a book signing after the event thanks to MacLean's Booksellers. You can buy tickets here.

I2N ACCELERATOR DEMO NIGHT Thursday 9 November 5pm – 8pm The I2N Accelerator is a launchpad for founders based in the Newcastle region, to validate their pathway to market and hit go on their business model. After an intensive 10-week journey of customer interviews, market analysis, and business model validation, these founders have risen to the challenge and are ready to share what they have learned and where to next. Event is free but registration essential. You can find more information here.

RISING TIDE: THE PEOPLE’S BLOCKADE 24 – 27 November – Horseshoe Beach, Newcastle A peaceful protest involving thousands of people uniting to demand urgent action to address the climate crisis. There are lots of ways to get involved! You can find more information here. Saturday & Sunday will be the big action days with the flotilla blockade, speakers & live music.

CHROMATIC 1 – 5 November – UON city campus CHROMATIC Festival is an annual celebration of creativity, critical thinking, culture, and student life across the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science at the University of Newcastle. CHROMATIC Festival’s focal point is a Grad Showcase of the practice and outcomes of graduating students across design, communication, media, liberal arts, music, and performance. You can find the full program of activities here.

IN CONVERSATION WITH PROFESSOR THE HONOURABLE GARETH EVANS Wednesday 6 December – Newcastle Conservatorium of Music Australia’s Regional Security: Keeping our Balance - In this edition of the Asia Pacific Centre-Newcastle Institute Lecture series, Professor Evans will explore the everintensifying contest for primacy between the United States and China that has created an Indo-Pacific regional security environment more fraught and fragile than it has been for decades. With discussions centered around how Australia can avoid becoming further hostage to American political and military decision-making and use such middle power influence to encourage diplomacy, dialogue, and restraint and balance in the way all of us conduct our relationships. Gareth Evans was a Cabinet Minister throughout the Hawke-Keating governments, including as Foreign Minister from 1988-96, led the Brussels-based Crisis Group and has held senior roles at ANU, including as Chancellor: this is an incredible opportunity to build your global awareness! You can register here for this free event.

Meet the Scholar: Luke Bryant Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey getting to university?

I grew up on a property about 50km west of Inverell, a country town in northern NSW and about 6hrs drive from Newcastle. I went to school here and graduated from Year 12 in 2021. I had known for a few years that I wanted to study pharmacy and was lucky enough to get an offer at UON. I moved here soon after in quite a rushed series of events, as the 2021 HSC exams didn’t finish until early December. I find Newcastle to be a pleasant medium between the local and peaceful aspects of a country town and the busy potential of a city. I am now at the end of the second year of my degree and haven’t looked back once.

What is something about you that most people wouldn’t know?

When I was 10 years old, I was obsessed with the idea of becoming an author, to the extent that I ended up spending 12 months writing a 90-page novel during school in 2013. I still have this book (minus the front and back cover which had basically worn off by the time I finished writing it).

Continued..

What is your favourite thing to do outside uni?

Over the past year, I’ve been getting quite consistent in the gym. It’s done wonders for my physical and mental health and I find it’s a flexible hobby, allowing me to structure my workouts and uni.

What is your favourite quote?

I suppose I have two for this one. Growing up, my dad had a desk calendar with a different quote for each day of the year and the one quote that has stayed with me was: “Everyone wants to be unique until someone tells them that they are different”: to me this quote reinforces the necessity of being comfortable in your own skin, there is nothing wrong with standing out from the crowd, but you need to be at peace with yourself and your motivations need to be internal, otherwise adversity will bring you down. Another quote that I feel ties in really well with this is by Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”.

Recommended read: What are you currently listening to, watching, or reading?

I’ve recently started reading “The Last of the Mohicans” by J. Fenimore Cooper. I watched Michael Mann’s film adaptation several years ago and was thoroughly impressed by the story: it only made sense to give the book a read and so far, it’s quite good.

RECOMMENDED READ (OR LISTEN) Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb discuss what they're reading, watching, cooking, listening to or irrationally exhilarated by. Very entertaining & a great celebration of friendship.

Available on Apple & Spotify podcasts.

Scholar recommendation: Max Spencer Karinen.

A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution-from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality.

In this powerful and accessible exploration of our legal systems, two human rights lawyers break open the big judgments, developments and trends that have and continue to silence and disadvantage women.

This will be the last newsletter for 2023. We would like to wish you a happy & restful end of year break and look forward to seeing you all refreshed in the New Year. Thanks for such a wonderful year – it’s been great to reengage with face-to-face activities and strengthen our community.

The University shuts down for 3 weeks from 15 December – 8 January, however Maryanne & Katie will be available on Slack if you need to reach out. We can’t wait to see you all at the Gala! Maryanne & Katie 

END OF YEAR BREAK