About the awards
The Department of Education is pleased to announce the winners of the Secretary’s Marrung Awards, held on 29 May 2024.
The Secretary’s Marrung Awards celebrate the unique knowledge and skills that Aboriginal staff and allies bring to the department, to create better educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. This may be in roles that focus on communications, policy, program delivery, student support, teaching, allied health, or leadership.
Categories
Positive Climate for Learning
This category has two winners and celebrates those who have created a positive climate for learning and development and where their services have demonstrated the highest levels of respect and inclusion. The result is Koorie children and learners of all ages feeling a greater sense of strength in their identity and are more culturally safe.
Winner: Eron Chapman, Principal Gowrie Street Primary School Shepparton
From the moment you engage with Gowrie Street Primary School whether it be onsite or online, you get a sense of the welcoming and inclusive learning environment it provides every day for students, families, staff, and the broader school community.
First Nations artwork and language feature on external walls and fences demonstrating the school’s authentic commitment to respect and the inclusion of culture.
Gowrie Street Primary School has a diverse student cohort, with 36% identifying as First Nations and many more from multicultural backgrounds. Understanding how their school community mirrors the diversity of the Greater Shepparton community, the school has worked hard to ensure their staffing contingent is representative of community.
We are a community that takes strength from who we are: our cultures, our histories, our diversity. We will empower our students to seize life's opportunities and overcome its challenges. At Gowrie St we DREAM BIG (Nurratj Dungudja)!!
This has been the foundation for a school wide culture of respect and inclusion – fostering and further developing the intercultural capability of staff and students.
In line with Marrung objectives, Gowrie Street Primary School focuses on proactive strategies to support First Nations student attendance and engagement. Empowering students to embrace their cultural identity is central to fostering a sense of belonging and is consistently considered in curriculum development and classroom delivery of content.
Winner: Vera Harold, Koorie Education Officer, SEV – Inner Gippsland – Koorie Education
The Koorie Homework Club has been running continuously for the past 33 years, First established at Traralgon High School (now known as Traralgon College) and has since moved to Liddiard Road Primary School.
The Koorie Homework Club was initially established by 3 school staff of Traralgon High School at the time. After 5 years, Vera Harrold who is the Koorie Engagement Support Officer has continued to drive the homework club with other community members, school staff and 3 volunteers. Vera has engaged with local Aboriginal services such as Wanjana Lidj and Ramahyuck to provide support with transport and food for the Koorie students attending. Numbers at the beginning were small where today, almost 40 Koorie students from Liddiard Road Primary School and Traralgon College are attending and engaging in their work as well as learning culture through cultural activities, storytelling, and games. The Koorie Homework Club has had many parents and carers engaged by sitting down with their child to support their learning, help with cultural activities and prepping food for the students. The Koorie Homework Club supports Koorie students connect to their culture, attend and be engaged at school as well as being excited for their learning.
The Koorie Homework Club is one of the longest running homework clubs in Victoria. It has been running since the late 80s with current coordinator, Vera Harrold, driving it for the past 28 years. It’s consistency, willingness to evolve and the connection it creates and maintains for its students makes it an asset to our school but more importantly provides a connection to country for our Koorie students and positive point of contact for our local Koorie community.
Community Engagement
This category has two winners and celebrates efforts made to build community engagement in learning and development. It recognises services that have worked in partnership and collaboration with Koorie people to find innovative ways to improve outcomes in local communities.
Winner: Paul Nolan, Manager, Ballarat Regional Centre, Academy – Regional Sites, SWVR
Paul Nolan’s commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their histories and cultures in education is evident in his collaborative, culturally responsive leadership within the Department of Education roles and now in his position as Manager at the Ballarat – Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
Paul has advocated for Koorie education and perspectives at the Academy in Ballarat, supporting the Koorie Education Workforce (KEW) to lead Cultural Perspectives in Education (CPIE) and aligning actions with VAEAI, in the work to improve educational outcomes for Koorie students through empowering them and their teachers.
Paul is an initiator and enabler of self-determination. He is passionate about giving voice to Koorie communities and building genuine and authentic partnerships, understanding that he can leverage his position to do this. As an ally, Paul’s awareness of cultural protocols and willingness to seek innovative ways to do more, is exemplary.
Winner: Group – Goulburn Area Koorie Education Workforce
Goulburn Area Koorie Education Workforce in recognition of their collective involvement in the Koorie Big Day Out working group.
When Toorong Marnong relaunched their face-to-face events in 2023 to promote Higher Education pathways proactively and positively to Koorie students, the Goulburn Area Koorie Education Workforce (the KEW) jumped at the chance to get involved.
Under the direction of VAEAI and the Toorong Marnong Coordinator, the KEW formed a working group to support the delivery of the Shepparton based Koorie Big Day Out event.
The day featured representatives from the Koorie Units at 9 Melbourne Universities (the Toorong Marnong accord) along with local employers and community organisations. Presentations centred on dreaming big, building connections, and feeling supported ran throughout the day.
Information about scholarships, traineeships, accommodation options, jobs, and supports were shared with those in attendance.
Professional Leadership
This category has two winners and celebrates the achievements of those who have built a culture of professional leadership where success for Koorie Victorians is their core business.
Winner: Group – 'Marrung in WSW – ‘Everyone’s Business’
In WSW our vision is that all staff – corporate, schools, early years – will contribute to a rich and thriving culture and celebration of the knowledge and experiences of our First Nations people.
As an area, we prioritise and privilege Marrung every day. Our staff have a deep relationship with our Koorie Education Workforce.
Through key strategic work and mechanisms, we have built a culture of professional engagement and leadership where success for Koorie students is the core business off all staff in the area.
We developed a vision that we wanted all of our area staff to be culturally confident and that all of our schools and early years services would have a culturally confident and strength based Marrung Leader. We had to make the decision to maintain ‘nothing about the KEW/Koorie youth without the KEW’ but also to see where the points of influence and involvement were for all staff.
The area is deeply committed to Aboriginal Inclusion. We trust in the knowledge, practices and behaviours of our KEW and communities. We endeavour to show respect and support genuine reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Victorians.
Winner: Ilona Rose-Sliwa, Koorie Education Coordinator, SWV – Barwon Planning & Implementation
Through all of her work, Ilona has built the capacity of others including leaders to see success for Koorie Victorians as core business. Through her knowledge and passion, she inspires others to lead this work in strengthening self-determination, cultural understanding, inclusion and strengthening identity and improving outcomes for Koorie children and young people.
As Koorie Education Coordinator (KEC) for Barwon Area Ilona has strengthened relationships with school leadership teams where she regularly meets with Area school Principal networks to discuss the importance of cultural inclusion in schools and advise on curriculum approaches in schools. As the KEC, Ilona sits on the Area Leadership Team, to ensure cultural inclusive practices are considered in all the Area work.
Ilona is passionate about improving outcomes for Koorie students and building cultural understanding across all schools. This has resulted in high levels of engagement from schools across the Barwon area.
In addition as the Barwon Area KEC, Ilona has worked collaboratively with the Barwon Koorie Education Workforce (KEW) team and other colleagues across the region. She is a visible leader who leads by example. The Barwon KEW team are highly respected by schools. She has also built strong respectful partnerships with others such as the Wadawurrung Traditional Owner group, LAECG and Wathaurong Co-op which support improved outcomes.
As a member of the Barwon Area Leadership team and School Improvement team, Ilona has challenged us to ensure the principles of self-determination and cultural inclusion are key to our work and decision-making. She has also advised on how Koorie perspectives can be identified in all approaches to the school improvement team’s work.
Aboriginal Community Leadership
This category has two winners and recognises efforts made to foster improved knowledge, understanding and appreciation for Aboriginal histories, people, and cultures.
Winner: Richard Fry, Koorie Education Officer, SWV – Barwon – Koorie Education
Uncle Richard is a well-known and highly respected Elder within our Wathaurong Community. Uncle Richard has attended meetings in schools with students and families and be an integral role in building positive family and school relationships and will then pop down to watch and celebrate the student on the weekend at a local footy game, grand final, cricket match or any sporting activity that the student is involved in, continuing to build on his own positive relationship with the families.
Uncle Richard embodies Marrung’s vision 'Victoria to be a state where the rich and thriving cultures, knowledges and experience of First Nations peoples is celebrated and where our service systems are responsive and respectful to Aboriginal people at every stage of their learning journey. He shows lives and breathes it every day, not just in work hours but through community and every interaction he has.
Winner: Ashlee Luttrell, Education Support, Charles La Trobe P-12 College – The Pavilion Campus – Preston East
Ashlee Luttrell is a Yorta Yorta and Taungurung educator who established and leads the Yarning on Country program at the Pavilion School. Yarning on Country is a multifaceted and embedded program which amplifies and celebrates the brilliance and resilience of the local Koori community. Through a combination of embedded curriculum work, local service collaboration, place-based pedagogies, cultural excursions and engaging programs, her work has enhanced the school’s community connection and engagement to First Nations cultures.
Ashlee’s work leading the Yarning on Country Program at the Pavilion School excels at celebrating the resilience and brilliance of Victoria’s Koori community, allowing Koori students to see themselves and their community’s strengths in their schooling experience, as well as raising the collective knowledge in all students about the oldest continuous cultures.
Through a combination of work directed towards First Nations students, programs educating all students, staff professional learning, curriculum consultation and staff mentoring, Ash’s work at the school, under the umbrella of the Yarning on Country Program has excelled at achieving the goals of Marrung. She works tirelessly to ensure all Koori students have a voice in their education, and that all students can access up-to-date and strengths-based knowledge about First Nations cultures. The work Ash also does with the staff team demonstrate her commitment to addressing both the interpersonal and structural constraints to providing excellent Aboriginal education.
Visit Marrung Strategy for more information.
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