Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative celebrate their 35th Anniversary
news Winter
2014
Staff at the old Co-op premises in Eyre Street (1983-1984) From Left: Brian Smith, Rex Morgan, Kathy Smith, Diana Nikkelson, Karen Heap, Judy Carswell, Isobel Young, Pauline Smith, Val Heap (CEO), Glenda Blackall, Carol Harrison, John Morris, May Walker, Amanda Burns, Michael Constable and Lindsey Saunders.
Thirty-five years ago, the founding members of BADAC showed great foresight in setting up a Cooperative that would assist the Aboriginal community in Ballarat and the Western District.
Co-operative. The main objective
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
was to have a service run for the
(VALS), and Koori Educators. We had
At the time there were a number of
were reported to authorities, so the
people from the stolen generation living in Ballarat due to the large number of Children’s Homes/Orphanages here. The local mainstream services were not catering for Aboriginal people due to racism and a lack of understanding of Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal services did not exist in
people by the people. During this time, Aboriginal people had a fear of mainstream services in case their children were taken into care, or they need for Aboriginal services was seen as a priority. Initially the Co-operative operated with a small number of staff. Our key services were around health, with the clinic being staffed by a fulltime nurse and a Doctor from Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) who visited
the entire Western district, so Ballarat
each fortnight. The Co-operative also
was one of the larger regions that
housed regional staff from the Victorian
could take the initiative to form a
Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA),
Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc. VACCHO is the peak body for Aboriginal Health in Victoria.
responsibility for Cultural Heritage for many years which involved school visits, identification of important cultural sites, and for Cultural Officers this was a time of learning about their culture and heritage. As the years have gone by, we have been able to develop our programs CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Vibrant, healthy, selfdetermining Aboriginal communities