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ISSUE NO. 18 December 2007

Onemda Update!

One of the highlights this year was the inauguration of our three patrons, Aunty Joan Vickery, Uncle Kevin Coombs and Aunty Joy Wandin-Murphy (p. 6). This was an important step for Onemda. Our patrons have considerable experience in their different fields and are respected in the Victorian Aboriginal community. They are ambassadors who embody the values that are so important to our work and who will represent Onemda across the university and the broader community.

Onemda continues to receive incredible support from the Victorian Koori community. We hope to be able to ‘pay back’ such support by contributing to the community’s capacity to deal with local health and wellbeing issues. In 2007 we started some of the developmental work to improve the quality of information in Aboriginal child health and wellbeing with several community partners. We have also held four workshops on the theme of ‘We Don’t Like Research’, which have explored how the capacity of local Koori communities can be strengthened to undertake health research.

Our work has been recognised with staff promotions, successful research grants, state and national awards, and invitations to further contribute within our areas of expertise. In particular we want to acknowledge the achievements of Nicole Waddell, Victorian Outstanding Student of the Year—Koorie (p.11), and Yin Paradies, 2007 National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year. Kyllie Cripps and Kevin Rowley were both awarded research fellowships which they will take up in 2008.

To all our friends, colleagues and collaborators—thank you for your support during the year. Have a safe break over the summer and we look forward to catching up in 2008.

Contents Onemda Update 1LIME Connection II 2Critical Debates 3Garma Festival 3VACCHO Launch 4ANAPHI Workshop 5Honouring our Patrons 6River Red Gum Forests 7 CRCAH Publications 8Onemda Publications 9Community Profile 9Coranderrk Visit 10International Visitors 10CrocFest 10News Update 11

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LIME Connection II

The second Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) conference and inaugural LIMELight Awards were hosted by the University of New South Wales in September. The Lime Connection II, under the auspices of the Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand and the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous medical educators, medical deans, Indigenous health specialists, policy makers, and community members from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America.

LIME Connection II focused on the progress of developing and delivering quality Indigenous health content into university medical curricula, while also increasing the number of Indigenous students in medical schools around the country. The conference was an important forum for discussing innovative approaches in Indigenous medical education and the experiences of practitioners.

The inaugural LIMELight Awards were an acknowledgment of an innovative program or initiative addressing critical issues, and celebrated the many successes in Indigenous medical education. Awards were presented in the following categories of leading innovation: curriculum implementation, Indigenous student recruitment, support and graduation, cultural and organisational change, and community engagement. The ‘LIMELight Leadership Award’ was awarded to Associate Professor Marlene Drysdale (Monash University) and Associate Professor John Broughton (University of Otago).

LIME will reconvene in two years time to continue to share these stories of success. For more information, please visit the LIME Network website (www.limenetwork.net.au).

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Throughout the past semester Onemda hosted a series of public forums, which have provided a stimulating insight into a range of Indigenous health issues. None of these sessions would have been possible without the combined efforts of the Onemda staff who brain-stormed the topics, chaired the sessions, and cajoled and persuaded their community, academic and industry contacts to participate. The issues discussed and the speakers who kindly agreed to contribute are detailed below.

Chronic diseases and Aboriginal health: What’s working? How do we do it better?Dr Kevin Rowley (Onemda); Mr Tom Voigt (Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Victoria); Ms Terry James (Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation [VACCHO]); Ms Joanne Hedges (Victorian Aboriginal Health Service [VAHS]); Mr Colin Mitchell (VAHS)

Custodial duty of care: How can Indigenous health in custodial settings be improved?Mr Alf Bamblett (Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association and Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service); Mr Frankie Boardman (Department of Justice, Victoria); A/Insp. Michelle Henderson (Aboriginal Advisory Unit, Victoria Police); Dr Foti Blaher (Custodial Medicine Unit, Victoria Police)

Responsibility, human rights and Indigenous health: How do key stakeholders meet their responsibilities?Dr Emma Koval (The University of Melbourne); Prof. Ian Anderson (Onemda); A/Prof. Dianne Otto (The University of Melbourne); Dr Ngaire Brown (Australian Indigenous Doctors Association)

Administrative standards: Ethics, pragmatics and programs in Indigenous healthProf. Marcia Langton (The University of Melbourne); Dr Bill Genat (Onemda); A/Comm. Lawrence McDonald (Productivity Commission, Australian Government)

Indigenous women’s education and improved health outcomesMs Helen Kennedy (VACCHO); Dr Margaret Scrimgeour, University of South Australia); Ms Lyn Thorpe (Northlands Senior High School)

Half an hour of each public forum was devoted to questions and comments from the audience, which grew to some 150 people over the five sessions and included Koori community members, academics, policymakers, students and health professionals.

Critical Debates in Aboriginal Health

For several years now, Marcia Langton has been taking undergraduate students enrolled in the Australian Indigenous Studies Program to the Garma Festival of Traditional Culture on Yolngu land in north-east Arnhem Land. An annual event hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation (YYF), Garma is ‘a celebration of the Yolngu cultural inheritance… aimed at sharing knowledge and culture’. Designed ‘to encourage the practice, preservation and maintenance of traditional dance (bunggul), song (manikay), art and ceremony’ (YYF), the experience of going to Garma is one that few students will ever forget.

This year 27 students made the epic trip north with Marcia and her incredibly well-organised and patient staff, Fiona, Odette and Elina. Onemda staffer Jane Yule also joined them this year as an extra 4WD driver and first-aider (fortunately for all concerned nothing more major was required than the application of bandaids and Stingoes).

A major focus of Garma is the four-day key forum, which every year is held on a different issue of concern to the Indigenous community. In a timely twist of fate, the theme this year was ‘Indigenous Health: Real Solutions for a Chronic Problem’. The forum attracted hundreds of participants, who listened to a broad and erudite range of national and international speakers, including our own Ian Anderson. A highlight of the forum was an emotional presentation from Pat Anderson and Rex Wilde about the impact of their report, Little Children Are Sacred, which sparked off the Australian Government’s recent intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

From next year, ‘Garma Fieldwork, Research and Culture’ will be run as a postgraduate subject in the Master of Public Health. For further details, please contact Fiona Finlayson (fmf@unimelb.edu.au).

Garma Festival 2007

Red flag dancer at Garma Festival (© Yothu Yindi Foundation/Garma Festival)

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The Premier’s Drug Prevention Council funded a knowledge and awareness project around alcohol and pregnancy in the Victorian Aboriginal community in 2003. The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) led the project, guided by both an advisory committee and by the Koori Maternity Services state-wide steering committee. The aim of the project—called ‘Healthy pregnancies, healthy babies for Koori communities’ to stress the importance of a holistic approach—was to develop culturally appropriate resources for Victoria.

An important outcome of this project has been the production of a resource kit for Aboriginal Health Workers, Maternal and Child Health Nurses, Midwives, Koori Alcohol and Drug Workers, GPs and other health service providers who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, their families and communities. The kit was developed by a project team from VACCHO that included Peter Waples-Crowe and Kellie Hunter Loughron, together with Priscilla Pyett from Onemda, as well as Joanne Harrison, Reneee Williams, Timothy Moore, and Simone Andy.

The project, which involved widespread consultation with workers in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and with a range of specialist service providers, found that:

• Alcohol is not seen as an issue in the Victorian Aboriginal population nearly as much as smoking and other drugs.

• There are already plenty of assumptions about alcohol in Aboriginal communities… but fewer Aboriginal people drink than people in the whole population.

• Patterns of drinking in Victoria are likely to be different from remote communities.

• There was a need for accurate information for Health Workers in Victoria.

• There was a need for strong positive messages in a holistic framework.

• Health Workers, midwives and clinicians were concerned about the importance of keeping women attending antenatal care. When women know they have been drinking they are often afraid to tell their doctor or Health Worker for fear of welfare intervention.

The project team developed a positive message about drinking less, smoking less, and eating healthy food, and the key message that Less is Better, None is Best. The resources stress that it’s a community responsibility to support a pregnant woman to be healthy: Our Kids—Our Community—Our Responsibility.

The kit was launched at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) on 10 October. VAHS CEO Rod Jackson welcomed a large crowd to the launch and congratulated VACCHO on the valuable new resource for Health Workers, Aboriginal families and the community. VACCHO CEO Jill Gallagher launched the resource kit, and stressed the importance of resources that are designed specifically for the Koori community. The launch was followed by a workshop with three speakers.

Project researcher Priscilla Pyett talked about the background to the project: ‘Many workers and clinicians recognise that drinking is very sensitive and issues for women can be very complex. Drinking is often associated with violence, and with welfare issues. A pregnant woman who drinks may be more concerned about the reality of losing the baby to welfare than about the possible effects of alcohol. People talked about the importance of keeping the woman coming to the health service for antenatal checks.’

Paediatrician Marg Rowell from VAHS discussed the difficulties of diagnosing disabilities and behavioural disorders in children, and the even greater difficulty of knowing when alcohol has contributed to the problem. She stressed the importance of supporting parents rather than adding shame or blame.

Launch of VACCHO’s ‘Healthy Pregnancies,

Healthy Babies for Koori Communities’ Resource Kit

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Jenny Robinson from the Women’s Alcohol and Drug Service at the Royal Women’s Hospital talked about how Health Workers can raise the issue of alcohol or other drug use with a pregnant woman in a supportive and non-judgmental way. Partners and other family members can be included in the discussion so that everyone thinks about cutting down their smoking and drinking.

What’s in the kit?

• A poster to hang in Aboriginal Health Services, or a GP’s waiting room.

• A flip chart for Health Workers to use when talking to pregnant women and their partners.

• A booklet for women to take away with them (with exactly the same information in it).

• A community report on fetal alcohol syndrome to provide Health Workers with up-to-date information about alcohol and pregnancy.

• Several other resources for Health Workers to use so they can give accurate information on smoking, alcohol and other drugs, to help women have a healthy pregnancy.

There will be five training workshops altogether to be held in ACCHOs around Victoria before the end of 2007. Wathaurong hosted a workshop on 23 October, with others held in Bairnsdale (8 November), Shepparton (23 November) and Swan Hill (29 November).

If you would like more information, or if you would like a resource kit or its accompanying literature review, please contact: Simone Andy at VACCHO Simone@vaccho.com.au / Tel: (03) 9419 3350 or Priscilla Pyett at Onemda pmpyett@unimelb.edu.au / Tel: (03) 8344 0885.

Australian Network of Academic Public Health

Institutions (ANAPHI) Teaching and Learning

WorkshopOnemda recently convened the Indigenous stream of the ANAPHI Public Health Teaching and Learning Forum in Alice Springs. Bill Genat chaired the first of two forum sessions, which had several presentations (below) concerning the delivery of Indigenous public health content in programs around Australia.

• Kate Senior from the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) described the onsite delivery of an undergraduate subject from the Batchelor College program. This subject provides undergraduate Indigenous students with a gradual introduction to the MSHR environment so as to encourage them to join the postgraduate stream.

• The delicate art of engendering student interest in statistics was the focus of a presentation by Cathy Bennett and Angelina Tabuteau Moore from The University of Melbourne entitled ‘Teaching Statistics in the MPH [Master of Public Health]: From suspicion to empowerment’.

• Adrian Miller from James Cook University described their public health program, which is delivered in block intensives with online support.

• David Scrimgeour from the University of South Australia emphasised the importance of distinguishing between the Indigenous health workforce and the Indigenous health workforce.

• Janice Jessen and Wendy Anders from the Institute of Koorie Education (IKE) at Deakin University described the community-based pedagogical model used in IKE’s MPH program.

• Shane Venables from the South East Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service and University of Wollongong School of Health Sciences talked about his experience as a scholarship holder in a joint public health teaching program.

• Bill Genat from Onemda described some of the teaching and learning innovations that had been incorporated into the Indigenous public health social science stream offered within the MPH.

The second part of the forum was a discussion, chaired by Ian Anderson, on the structure of a proposed Indigenous Public Health Curriculum Framework.

Peter Waples-Crowe and Jill Gallager from VACCHO with Priscilla Pyett (Onemda) and Simone Andy (VACCHO) at the VAHS launch of the resource kit

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Honouring our PatronsOn Friday 24 August Onemda held a dinner at University House to honour our Patrons—Aunty Joan Vickery, Uncle Kevin Coombs (pictured below with Ian Anderson and others) and Aunty Joy Wandin-Murphy. Unfortunately Aunty Joy had a prior commitment and was unable to join us on the night.

The dinner was attended by Professor James Best, Head of The University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, Professor Doris Young, Chair of the University’s Department of General Practice and lots of Onemda staff members. We were also really pleased to welcome some of our Aboriginal colleagues from the university who were able to join us in celebrating our Patrons.

We are fortunate at Onemda to have the support and guidance from these very special Elders for whom we have such respect and admiration. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long for another opportunity to get together and enjoy each other’s company!

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Earlier this year, the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) released a draft report on managing the red gum forests of the Murray Valley and called for public comment on its recommendations. One of those recommendations was for greater involvement of Aboriginal people in the management of the forests. Onemda’s Kevin Rowley, Angela Clarke, Rachel Reilly, Shaun Ewen, Ian Anderson—together with Neville Atkinson, convenor for the Co-operative Management Agreement, Yorta Yorta Joint Body—prepared a submission on the potential health benefits for Aboriginal people of implementing this recommendation.

The authors argue that increasing community capacity and involvement in land management could have major benefits for the physical, mental and social health of Aboriginal communities in the region. They are also important for Australian society as a whole, as the recommendations contribute to the social environment and relationships with Aboriginal people and the land. In her 2003 Master of Applied Science thesis, submitted to Deakin University and titled ‘Living with Dungalah (Murray River)’, Cummeragunja Elder Rochelle Patten concluded ‘…there is no more urgent project than to expand the European understanding that they too are country and that they too have to learn to live well in country’.

Research into the health of Aboriginal people in Australia has shown health benefits associated with close connection to traditional lands, including lower risk of diabetes and heart disease, as well as substantial benefits to self-esteem, opportunities to meet social and cultural obligations, a strengthening of Indigenous cultural identity and a release from the stresses of living in large communities. These types of social and psychosocial determinants of health are important for Aboriginal people throughout the country.

VEAC’s land management proposals are a chance for mainstream society to establish a fundamentally new relationship with Aboriginal people: one that respects Aboriginal worldviews, culture, identity, and the sovereignty and authority that come from

occupation over hundreds of centuries and many thousands of generations. Indigenous knowledge and ways of living with Country can be a basis of sustainable land management practice. This is an opportunity to improve the true social determinants of health for Aboriginal people, and for better health of Australian communities.

… we’ve been continuing to have some sort of connectedness to land, which we have, but it’s still not the same, it’s still not the same as it was prior to European occupation—and it’s never gonna be the same because things have happened along the way and we can’t turn that around. But what they can do is return, give back—give back to people that dignity, respect, recognition of who they are and what they mean in this country. Give them back the land, give them a role to play with their mother again, so they can have a relationship with their mother again, because that mum’s not there. And the wider community shouldn’t feel threatened about that … If we’re put in a position where we’re feeling good about ourselves and feeling that connection back to land and stuff, we’re not going to lock people out of that, we want people to experience the same good feelings we’re feeling and be a part of it. (Anon.)

The full text of this submission is available from Kevin Rowley at Onemda (Email: rowleyk@unimelb.edu.au or Tel: 03 8344 0814).

River Red Gum Forests Investigation:

Draft proposals paper for public comment

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The CRC for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH) recently published three important monographs: Learning from Action: Management of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services by Judth Dwyer, Cindy Shannon and Shirley Godwin; Australian Indigenous Health—Within an International Context by Jane Freemantle, Kirsty Officer, Daniel McAullay and Ian Anderson; and Beyond Bandaids: Exploring the Underlying Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health edited by Ian Anderson, Fran Baum and Michael Bentley.

Learning from Action documents a learning and research project, the aim of which was to describe the management challenges faced by senior managers in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in a way that would enable participants to share and build their knowledge and skills.

Australian Indigenous Health considers peer-reviewed and government accounts of health outcomes for Aboriginal people over the past decade, focusing on Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. It places these accounts into the context of the history, structure and data quality of the countries considered. The report also includes selected case studies that outline Indigenous programs that have improved the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people. The report also highlights the critical issue of lack of data describing Indigenous health and inconsistencies in data collection.

Beyond Bandaids is a collection of sixteen papers from the CRCAH Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health Workshop held in Adelaide in July 2004. The monograph (available on CD–Rom) presents a perspective on how social and economic factors affect Indigenous Australians’ health. Authors reviewed the literature on particular factors and made recommendations for the evolving CRCAH Social Determinants of Indigenous Health research program, discussed in the conclusion of this monograph. Chapters cover a range of topics, including Koori perspectives of the social determinants of health; education and its impact on health; material social determinants of income, poverty, employment and the physical environment; aspects of social and emotional wellbeing, community development, effective means of governance, and the value of social capital; law and justice, including an overview of constitutional rights issues and a case study of the Koori Court in Victoria; as well as aspects of culture as it impacts upon the health of Indigenous Australians.

All three publications can be downloaded in pdf format from the CRCAH website (www.crcah.org.au), and there are limited numbers of printed copies also available.

New Publications from the CRCAH

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Staff at Onemda have published a variety of publications in the past few months. Ian Anderson’s chapter ‘Health Policy for a Crisis or a Crisis in Policy?’ appeared in Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia. This collection, edited by Jon Altman and Melinda Hinkson and published in September by Arena Publications, features contributions by prominent Indigenous leaders, academics and social commentators, including Onemda associate Gregory Phillips who wrote on ‘Healing and Public Policy’. The book

dissects the Howard Government’s intervention into NT Indigenous communities from the perspectives of human rights, alcohol and health policy, welfare and land rights reforms, Indigenous representation and reconciliation, and the recognition of cultural diversity. Copies are available from Arena (www.arena.org.au).

Ian Anderson wrote a paper on federalism and Aboriginal health with John Whyte for the journal Australian Aboriginal Studies. Ian, together with Jackie Street and Fran Baum, also had a paper on the development of a collaborative research system for Aboriginal health in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. The Australian Indigenous Law Review published a paper by Kyllie Cripps entitled ‘Indigenous Family Violence: From emergency measures to committed long-term action’.

Health and History Special Edition on Aboriginal Health

Onemda has been preparing a special edition of Health and History, the journal of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine. Edited by Ian Anderson and former Onemda staffer Kim Humphery, the December edition contains papers on such diverse topics as: the historical experience of state institutions and current encounters in the health system (Leonie Cox); reflections on Australian Aboriginal women’s health, past and present (Bronwyn Fredericks); missions, dormitories and generational health (Brian McCoy); two papers on historic psychiatric constructions and interpretations of Indigenous mental health (Edmund McMahon, Caitlin Murray); and a social history of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (Clive Rosewarne et al.). There is also a research note on the history of ear disease in Aboriginal children (John Stuart) and a review article by Warwick Anderson on the historiography of Indigenous health.

An electronic copy of the edition can be accessed at: www.historycooperative.org/hahindex.html

Onemda Publications

Petah AtkinsonI am a Woongi Winya of the Yorta Yorta people and I live with my family on our traditional country in Shepparton, Victoria. The greatest achievements of my life are my six children. I also have a Master of Public Health and am enrolled in a PhD program at The University of Melbourne.

My interests are the social determinants of Aboriginal health, cultural safety and social capital. Being the only person with a postgraduate degree in health in my community has been a challenge for me. However, the reason I persevered was twofold. Firstly, I was tired of the cycle of illness we are confronted with as Aboriginal people: we need the capacity to discover and articulate new ways to prevent illness and promote the benefits of being Aboriginal. Secondly, going to university normalises further education for my children and, as a result, our daughter Sarai is now preparing to enter university to study physiotherapy.

In my new role as Lecturer of Indigenous Health at The University of Melbourne’s School of Rural Health, I am responsible for the establishment of the Aboriginal Health Unit. This Unit will be developed in partnership with the three major Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in the Goulburn Valley triangle. The Unit will also develop partnerships with key stakeholders in Aboriginal health in the Goulburn Valley, including mainstream service providers. It will coordinate the development of curriculum and the teaching of Aboriginal health components in medical, nursing and allied health courses, in addition to conducting research projects in collaboration with Aboriginal communities in north-eastern Victoria.

Contact Petah at petaha@unimelb.edu.au or on (03) 5823 4500.

Community Profile

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Croc Fest is a performing arts and educational festival for primary and high school students in regional and remote communities around Australia. This year Croc Fest for Victoria was held in Shepparton for the first time, from 16–18 October. The drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free event is aimed at promoting education, careers and healthy lifestyles with a range of hands-on activities, information tents, as well as sports and performing arts displays.

This was the tenth Croc Fest, and Onemda and CEITC had a stall in the education tent to provide information to young people about opportunities for careers in Indigenous health and health research. With a bit of luck we will have planted the first seeds in our future generation to think about undertaking research as a career path.

But it was Deadly Dan (pictured below with a young admirer), CEITC’s Smoke-Free Super Hero, who was the star attraction, with

the hundreds of school kids passing through our tent making sure they took home a Deadly Dan T-shirt and tattoo.

And, given the number of pens we gave out, all of them will be wielding an Onemda or CEITC pen at school next term.

In September Onemda had the pleasure of hosting Leah May Walker and James Andrews, Associate Directors of the Division of Aboriginal People’s Health, The University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Leah and James are involved in the development and delivery of Aboriginal health curriculum, as well as recruitment and retention strategies for Aboriginal students at UBC.

During the visit Leah gave a joint presentation with Shaun Ewen on the development of teaching materials about Aboriginal peoples’ experiences of colonisation that could contribute to the programs both here and at UBC. James also gave a presentation, hosted by the Centre for Indigenous Education, on the recruitment and retention strategies at UBC.

We took Leah and James to Shepparton, where we were welcomed by the University’s School of Rural Health, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative and the Academy of Sport, Health and Education (pictured above). They also attended the LIME conference in Sydney.

Visits such as these are strengthening Onemda’s links to international Indigenous health research programs, and furthering our understanding of health issues that affect our community and ways to address them.

On Tuesday 2 October, Shaun Ewen, Bill Genat and Dick Sloman travelled to Healesville and met with Aunty Joy Wandin-Murphy and other descendants of the Coranderrk community. The purpose of the meeting was to showcase the online role-play Onemda has developed for teaching our postgraduate students.

Within the role-play there are six historical characters associated with Coranderrk. They include the Coranderrk manager, an Aboriginal leader, a Coranderrk householder, the Secretary of the Protection Board, the local MLA, and another character who was an ally to the Coranderrk residents. The role-play uses archival materials including photographs, letters, newspaper articles and government reports. These materials inform each character so that students acting the characters can debate issues—such as land tenure, access to health services, and wages and working conditions—in on-line ‘public meetings’ about Coranderrk in the period 1860s to 1880s. Students gain a lot from the opportunity to ‘walk in the shoes’ of these different people.

Over lunch, Aunty Joy and her mob gave us advice on presenting the materials. The overall response was positive and we will share these materials at a proposed on-site Coranderrk gathering in 2008. After the meeting, we visited the Coranderrk cemetery where the memorial to William Barak now stands. We decided that a field trip for our students to the Coranderrk site would greatly add to their engagement with this story, which remains a testament to the resilience and vision of our early Aboriginal leadership in their struggle for social justice.

International VisitorsCoranderrk Visit

Croc Festival 2007

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Onemda staff get down to the serious task of mailing out Talkin’ Strong… supervised capably by Paul Stewart (in centre with coffee mug)

On Wednesday 10 October, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, invited Professor Ian Anderson to speak on the Northern Territory intervention as part of a series of Breakfast Conversations. Onemda Elder Aunty Joy Wandin-Murphy was also invited but, unfortunately, could not attend. The event was held at Federation Square and, despite the early 7.30 am start, some 200 persons turned up to hear Ian speak.

Archbishop Dr Phillip Freier, and facilitator Penny Mulvey, with Professor Ian Anderson

On Tuesday, 2 October the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis honoured the achievements of Indigenous staff (pictured below) at The University of Melbourne with a morning tea held at University House.

These included Onemda’s Community Development and Community Programs officer, Nicole Waddell being awarded the Victorian Outstanding Student of the Year—Koorie at the Victorian Training Awards in August. Nicole won the award due to her studies in Cert IV Community Services work through the Koorie Services Centre at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE and her involvement with 3KND radio braodcasting. Nicole represented Victoria at the Australian Training Awards in Hobart on 9 November.

Even though Shiloh Barker from New South Wales went on to win the Australian finals, we are all proud of Nicole’s achievements. Well done Nic!

Congratulations to Leah and Rob on the arrival of baby Penelope. We hope that their bundle of joy grows strong and healthy. We wish baby and family all the very best and hope to have a visit from mum and baby soon.

It’s a Baby Girl...News Update

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Onemda VicHealth Koori Health UnitCentre for Health and SocietyLevel 4, 207 Bouverie StreetThe University of MelbourneVictoria 3010 AUSTRALIATel: + 61 3 8344 0813Fax: +61 3 8344 0824Web: www.onemda.unimelb.edu.auEmail: koori@chs.unimelb.edu.auMelways Map Reference: 2B D8