INAUGURAL VICTORIAN INDIGENOUS WOMENS AWARDS 1997

Koorie Women Mean Business Incorporated in partnership with ATSIC - Binjirru Regional Council, and the Victorian Women’s Trust developed the inaugural Victoria Indigenous Women’s Awards to celebrate the role of indigenous women in Victoria. The Awards were presented by Marion Hanson, former Victorian ATSIC Commissioner, at the Aboriginal Day Ball held at the Grand \Hyatt Melbourne on Friday 11 July 1997 and attended by nearly 300 people.

PROFILE OF AWARD WINNERS


ARTS CATEGORY: MAXINE BRIGGS
Maxine Briggs has worked in the music industry as a roadie, lighting technician and designer and co-coordinator of cultural events and programs. Maxine focuses on the retrieval and restoration of Victorian Aboriginal Arts ass an essential aid in the haling process for Kooris today. Each project is creative rather then format, to ensure it remains innovative and challenging to the artists involved. She is a Managing Director and a driving force in the Koori Arts Collective.
Maxine’s work challenges other communities’ perceptions and images of local Koorie people through performance, arts, and music. Maxine instigated a number of projects in several artform’s to provide cultural development and employment for koorie. This is achieved through effective packaging and networking between the community and the arts industry.
Maxine is highly regarded as an events expert who can provide a unique indigenous edge. She initiated the incorporation of culturally appropriate programs in mainstream arts events before it became fashionable and through this has developed a longstanding relationship with the Melbourne Fringe Festival and the Brunswick Music Festival.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CATEGORY: COLLEEN MARION
Colleen Marion has been a key worker in her role as Koorie Case Manager with the Preston CES . She currently assists koorie unemployed clients registered with Preston CES to find work in the private sector and also in the public and Aboriginal organisation’s sector.
Colleen assists unemployed clients in gaining basic training to enable them to apply for jobs in the workforce. Recently she placed thirteen Koorie clients in job placement as part of the Preparatory employment training program run by Yuruga Enterprises PTY Ltd at Northcote Town hall. Colleen works with both indigenous and non indigenous employers and actively breakdowns barrier to indigenous employment. She has focused her work on gaining economic empowerment for indigenous people through training opportunities and work placements.


CULTURAL CATEGORY - LYNETTE DENT
Lynette Dent has played a crucial role in developing comprehensive learning strategies to enable the Ganai Language to be taught. Community members in Gippsland and the wider Victorian Aboriginal Community have benefited through Lunette’s presentations and language workshops. Her dedication and commitment to pass on information and knowledge relating to language are an inspiration.
Lynette has a Bachelor of Education from the Monash University Gippsland Campus and has been involved and tutoring and teaching Aboriginal languages since 1988. Lynette has been a student of both Bundjalung and Pitjanjatjara and spent time in Alice Springs learning with native speakers. For the past three years she has been a teacher at the Koorie Open Door Education K-12 Campus at Morwell.
Lynette is involved in a community language program, teaching language to 20 kindergarten age children (both Indigenous and non Indigenous) at the Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal co-operative. She also teaches secondary students and community members through the program, which is being developed to include cultural interpretation for workers in the field such as tourism and dancing, Lynette continues to research the Ganai Language and to develop her own resources for teaching,