Macarthur NAIDOC Awards

Category winner: Edward Burge

Uncle Eddie does outstanding work for the community of Campbelltown. He works from the heart for the community. He's dedicated and committed and always follows through on his projects. He is on many committees to support our community to help improve the lives of those who live in Campbelltown and represent the Aboriginal Culture.

Category winner: Mandy Edwards

Mandy has worked in the local Employment services space for over a decade and has moved hundreds of Aboriginal people from welfare dependency to employment. Mandy advocates for her clients and goes above and beyond to connect her clients to much needed support services. She listens and cares for her clients and puts them into sustainable outcomes. Mandy is passionate about educating her employers about cultural competency and ensuring Aboriginal service users have the best experience. Her dedication to our community is deserving of this nomination - she is committed to contributing to bettering the lives of our community and service to the employment sector.

Category winner: Picton High School ATSI Dance Group

This group of students have come together this year and have overcome alot of hurdles like being in a pop-up school for term 1 with limited space to practice then in term 2 moving to a new school with not all services available like sound systems. This group of students from year 7 to 12 have managed to practice and are now ready to perform throughout the community which they started to at the end of term 2. The dance group will also be visiting primary schools to teach younger students about culture and how to dance. These students are giving back to their community and passing on their knowledge through culture.

Category winner: Edward Burge

Uncle Eddie Burge has always been a part of many group initiatives, where his efforts have played a major role in the successful delivery of many projects. Uncle Eddie is always one of the first people to nominate himself to help with projects that will help serve the community of Campbelltown. Uncle Eddie is well respected in the local community because of his wiliness to help to his friends, family and community members.

Category winner: South Western Sydney Local Health District - Aboriginal Health Unit

SWSLHD Aboriginal Health have been outstanding in ensuring the Aboriginal community are informed throughout the COVD19 pandemic. The Aboriginal Health unit made sure that the new vaccination hub was inclusive of displaying Aboriginal artwork and acknowledgment to Country which not only was a big hit in the media (both locally and national news) but it promoted the importance of getting our community vaccinated. This demonstrates how hard they work for our community.

Category winner: Alanah Scholes

Alanah displays her ongoing commitment to Reconciliation, not only as am employee with the National Rugby Leauge but her active commitment to Reconciliation in her own community.

With Alanah’s commitment to Reconciliation, Alanah is currently in the process of working on renewing the NRL Reconciliation Action Plan which involves submitting a formal Reconciliation Action Plan to Reconciliation Australia to maintain the Elevate status which is one of the four RAP types, Elevate being the highest status type.

Alanah demonstrates lifelong commitment to reconciliation both internally at the NRL and in the communities in which she lives and works in.

Category winner: Office Works Campbelltown

Office Works Campbelltown participated in Reconciliation week this year and recognised local artists with artwork displayed at the store. Several paintings where displayed throughout the store on canvas. A morning tea was also held with a local artist to tell their story. This initiative is now something the store would like to do each year.