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Media Release AttachmentAmbassadorsJimmy Little’s television, stage, radio and recording career spans more than four decades in the entertainment industry. The versatility of this popular Australian performer is evident in the many awards he has received during his long career. In 1997 Jimmy was awarded the prestigious MO Award – John Campbell Fellowship, for his outstanding contribution to both the entertainment industry and the wider community. Other Honours include being immortalised in wax at the Country Music Museum. His imprint has been made into the Hands of Fame as well as being inducted into the Roll of Renown in Tamworth. He has two gold records and a gold album for his national no 1 hit Royal Telephone and in 1999 was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Jimmy was also awarded the Silver Conductors baton Award for Musical Excellence. Jimmy has done several Command Performances and numerous Australian outback tours, as well as regular appearances on the club circuit over the past 40 years. He has appeared on a wide range of Australian Entertainment/ Variety Shows. Jimmy also has a film and theatre career which includes titles such as Until the End of the World’ Wim Wenders, Black Cockatoos, Black Mary, Black River and Shadow of the Boomerang. Jimmy Little, also known as the gentle man or Gentle Man Jim, continues to travel Australia communicating a message of goodwill and encouragement to people of all ages, cultures and beliefs through his message of harmony. Contact: Manager Buzz Bidstrup mobile: 0419 226 434 Cliff has a sporting record that most other players dream about. He is the only Aboriginal player to play 300 NRL matches and was instrumental in establishing an Aboriginal team in the World Sevens. He represented his State of NSW and played for Australia in 1990 and 1991. He was also named the Daily Mirror Player of the Year in 1990 and 1994. During his career, Cliff has made a total of 332 First Grade appearances playing in four Grand Finals and scored 87 first grade tries. Cliff was awarded the 1999 Sportsman of the Year at the 7th Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sports Awards. Contact: 02 9938 3677 Joe is from the Bunuba Language group, born in Fitzroy Crossing, and works to improve the socio economic conditions of his community in Fitzroy Crossing where there are approximately 80 members in his language group. Joe completed his electrical fitting and installation apprenticeship and worked twelve years in the trade. Joe resigned his position in 1992 as a Maintenance Supervisor for BHP Minerals at the Cajuput mine. Joe is now the Chairperson of Bunuba Inc, which is involved in town-based investments, eco tourism and pastoral properties, which export live cattle (total property holdings 1.8 million hectares). Joe has been involved in regional, state and national Indigenous issues. He has completed course five of the Australian Rural Leadership program. Joe has been active in developing a leadership development program to give skills development opportunities for young Indigenous leaders and enable them to contribute to shaping the future of their communities and the nation. Recently a board was appointed of which Joe is a member to oversee the continued development of this concept, with the objective to have a continuing program for future Indigenous leaders. Last year Joe was invited to the Regional summit in Canberra and with his input on leadership development had the opportunity to present key issues facing our Indigenous communities in Rural and Regional Australia. Contact: 0419 913 043 Shayne Blackman is from the Merooni Tribe, a sub tribe of the Gurang Nations. He is an ordained Minister of the Uniting Church in Australia. At present Shanyne is employed by the Uniting Church in Australia, where he has worked for approximately 18 years. During that time Shayne has been involved in Minister of the Word (Townsville Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Uniting Church, West End), worked as a Development and Outreach Officer (Calvary Presbytery National Administrator of the Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) and continues also as part time Development & Outreach Officer for Calvary Presbytery. Shayne is active in education and Indigenous community affairs. He is the Chairman of the Wontulp-Bi-Buya College. (Theological Education by Extension – a branch of Nungalinya College), as well as being the Chairman of the Aboriginal & Islander Commission, (the Indigenous section of the National Council of Churches of Australia.) He is a board member of the Nungalinya College (Theological Education Training Institution) and the Queensland Community Corrections Board, Townsville for the last 10 years. Shayne was the Regional Councillor for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Townsville Region, for two terms. Shayne is a member of the Uniting Church Assembly Standing Committee as well as a member of the First Nations Joint Committee (FNJC), an incorporated body of the Aboriginal Implementation Committee for the Chevron Pipeline Development. Shayne has also played a major role in the development of the Congress Community Development and Education Unit Ltd. (SHALOM COMMUNITY) where he is Chairman. The Unit is responsible for the Shalom Christian College, Prep to Year 12 (Day & Boarding), Shalom Elders Village, Shalom, Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre, Crystal Creek Camp & Conference Centre, Shalom Trade Training Centre and Yalga-binbi NEIS Project. Shayne has played a major role in the development of Shalom Development Services, Construction Company and the Yalga-binbi Institute, an educational facility that consults with remote Indigenous communities as well as urban and rural Indigenous communities. Shayne is the Chairman of both of these boards. Contact: 07 4773 5077 Kevin Coombs is the Co-coordinator of the Koori Alcohol and Drug Program with the Department of Human Services (Victoria), a position he has held since 1992. Kevin has long been involved in Koori health and has also worked with the Koori Health Unit with the Health Department Victoria as well as Community Services Victoria. Kevin has had a long and successful sporting career in Wheelchair basketball, and since 1960 has served as a member of every Victorian State Wheelchair Basketball team competing at National Games. He has competed in five Paralympic Games, has captained both the Commonwealth Games team in New Zealand (1974) and the Silver Jubilee Games team in Mandeville in England (1977). He has competed in the World Championships for wheelchair basketball (1983) the World Wheelchair Basketball Challenge Los Angeles (1984) and was the captain coach of the Australian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team at the Paralympics in Heidelberg, Germany (1972). Kevin’s outstanding achievements in his involvement with the Aboriginal Community and disabled sports was recognised in 1993 with an Order of Australia Medal. Kevin is a Foundation (1964) Member of Paravics/ Wheelchair Sports Victoria and has served as a Committee member of Paravic as a Director of Wheelchair Sports Victoria since foundation of the Club and has served several terms as a Chairman. Kevin has been awarded Life Membership Paravics/ Wheelchair Sports Victoria and in 1998 was awarded the Sir Ludwig Guttman Perpetual Trophy for Outstanding Contribution to wheelchair sport. In the same year Olympics Minister Michael Knight announced the naming of Kevin Coombs Avenue at the Homebush Bay Olympic site. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Aboriginal Hostels Ltd, an Elected Commissioner of the National Wheelchair Basketball League. In 1998 Kevin was appointed to the National Indigenous Advisory Committee to the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Most recently he was appointed to the Sport Technical Advisory Committee for Wheelchair basketball for the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee. Other Committees that Kevin has been on include the Board of Director of Ngwala Willumbong Co-operative Ltd (Drug and Alcohol Recovery Centres 1981-1999) serving several terms as Chairman, Committee for the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships (Chairman 1986), National Aboriginal Health Strategy Committee (Victorian State Government representative 1990) and the Australian Wheelchair Athletes Ltd (selector 1995-1997). Contact: 03 9354 3360 Tiga Bayles is a long serving leader within Indigenous media and is the Station Manager of 4AAA Murri Radio in Brisbane. Having worked in the 1980’s to establish Radio Redfern (which was the predecessor of Koori Radio), Tiga moved to Brisbane to establish Radio 4AAA. AAA started out as BIMA, the Brisbane Indigenous Media Association, broadcasting through 4ZZZ in 1984 for less that an hour a week. By 1992, the Murri Show, as it is known, went to air for 16 hours every week Eventually BIMA was awarded its own license to broadcast, and in 1993 4AAA went to air for the first time. BIMA has always encouraged young Aboriginal and Islander people to become involved in the station, helping to provide them with a cultural focus, a sense of identity and opportunities to develop their skills. Contact: 07 3892 0100 Eric has commenced his first term as an ATSIC Commissioner, for the South West Zone of Western Australia. Prior to his election, Eric was an Aboriginal Liaison Officer with WA Department of Education. Originally from Collie, he has been living in Perth for the past eight years. Mr Wynne has for many years provided strong leadership in the development of projects to assist young people. He believes that improving employment and education opportunities will lay a strong foundation for Indigenous young people. Contact: 08 9220 0822 May L O’Brien is a long-standing statesperson within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. She has lived and worked within Aboriginal education systems and policies for more than four decades. May was born in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. At the age of five she was taken to Mount Margaret Mission where she spent the next twelve years. May taught in Western Australian rural and metropolitan primary schools for twenty-five years. May served a number of education positions before being appointed Superintend of Aboriginal Education, a position she held until her early retirement in 1988. Her total service with Education Department of Western Australian (EDWA) was thirty-four years. May was also active in education at a national level, being a member of the School’s Commission’s Aboriginal Consultative Group and a foundation member of the National Aboriginal Education Committee (NAEC). In the 1977 New Year’s Honours list, May was awarded the British Empire Medal for her service to education generally, and to Aboriginal Education in particular. In 1984, as a Churchill Fellow she studied educational programs (in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) that focused on enabling Indigenous peoples to retain their own cultures while adjusting to that of the mainstream cultures. In 1990, she was awarded a Literary Grant from the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council to produce six Aboriginal legends from the Eastern Goldfields of WA and this was followed by a Writers’ Fellowship (1991/ 92) to record four anecdotes from her childhood. In 1996 May was awarded a further grant to record her life story. In 1991 May was awarded a Fellow of the Edith Cowan University. In the same year she was appointed to the board of Directors of World Vision Australia, a position she holds today. May continues to serve on the following Committees and boards – Chair: Aboriginal Education and Training Council (AETC). Deputy Chair: Australians for Reconciliation (WA) Inc. Co-Chair: Centre for Aboriginal Programs & Centre for Indigenous History & the Arts (UWA), Committee Member Polly Farmer Foundation. Contact: 0417 178 133 From Nowra, NSW. Dr Brown graduated from University of Newcastle with medical degree in 1992. Dr Brown has worked with the Australian Medical Association as an Adviser on Indigenous Health matters. Ngiare is specializing in the area of emergency medicine and has worked extensively in large hospitals such as the Prince of Wales Hospital. Dr Brown is currently employed with World Vision and is involved in preventative health and community development projects. Contact: 02 9385 1000 |
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