23 July 2010
Dear Cheryl,
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Kooma Traditional Owners Association Inc. for your generous and inspiring contribution to EWB’s Indigenous Australia Program. Earlier this year EWB received a Highly Commended in the Queensland Govt 2010 Reconciliation Awards for Business and we recognise that this is made possible by the commitment of the Indigenous community organisations and people we partner with.Through our partnership many Kooma people have played a huge role in our reconciliation journey. Our staff and volunteers have felt the warm and generous welcome on many occasions out at Murra Murra and Bendee Downs and all have returned home moved by the stories and cultural values that Kooma people of shared. Many Kooma people have challenged and mentored our staff and volunteers about developing great working relationships with Indigenous Australians from which we have all learned.
A major achievement this year has been the EWB Challenge with over 8,000 first year engineering students working on design projects based at Bendee Downs. We are grateful to KTOAI for partnering with us on this very public project and generously sharing your stories and country.
I’d particularly like to thank you and Kargun Fogarty who have provided strategic direction and mentoring to EWB’s Indigenous Australia Program through the Indigenous Advisory Committee. Your input and advice has been an invaluable support to me and others at EWB. Publically, your talks at conference and other events have moved and inspired a wide audience of students and professionals. Kargun’s didgeridoo performance to close the 2009 EWB conference is constantly spoken about and become a very special moment for EWB.A major aim of EWB’s Indigenous Australia Program is that those directly involved will take what they have learned and their new found inspiration to their wider community to create more positive change. I’d like to highlight three examples of how people have taken the direct impact of their time with working with Kooma to do so.
Over the last 18 months Sophie has been working as part of the Kooma Energy Project team. Earlier this year she took the learning and inspiration from working with Kooma back to her workplace, Queensland Transport and Main Roads. She has sourced funding and resources for five scholarships worth over $100,000 for Indigenous students to attend university. In addition, Queensland Transport and Main Roads will provide each student with paid vacation work, Indigenous mentors and guaranteed work at the end of their qualification.
The second example is of a volunteer who had never worked with Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people before but who is now employed by World Vision to work with Aboriginal communities around Alice Springs in developing early childhood centres. Rob volunteered as the project manager for the Kooma Energy Project which provided him with the opportunities and mentoring from which he gained wonderful skills and confidence that allowed him to change his career and start his own reconciliation journey.
My final example of how powerful this partnership has been as a change agent for our organisational partner, Melbourne Water. The Kooma people working with the Melbourne Water volunteers inspired and empowered them to challenge Melbourne Water’s approach to cultural heritage management. Since the start of the partnership there has been a real positive change and energy in which Melbourne Water engages with Traditional Owners and their approach to cultural heritage management along Melbourne’s waterways. Some direct outcomes are the lessons of associating cultural heritage with biodiversity values, rather than viewing it as another ‘issue’ to ‘deal’ with, and the direct engagement with Traditional Owners to develop a relationship based on trust, rather than legal requirements.
These three examples demonstrate the vital part KTAOI has played in our far reaching reconciliation journey at EWB. So again, I’d like to thank you on behalf of EWB for your generosity of spirit in our partnership and for being such an important part of our reconciliation journey.
Kind regards,
Lizzy Skinner
Coordinator of Indigenous Australia Programs
Engineers Without Borders, Australia