Aboriginal Family Support Services Inc
The Aboriginal Family Support Services Inc (AFSS) was created in 1978 as an Aboriginal agency to deal with matters relating to the welfare of Aboriginal children.
The AFSS is based in South Australia and it identifies Aboriginal children at risk and provides assistance, support and advocacy to children, youth and families.
Aboriginal Housing Company Ltd
The Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) in Redfern was the first community housing organisation in Australia. It was established in 1973 to provide Indigenous people with affordable housing for home ownership and rental. The AHC is self-funded and its income is generated through the organisation's business activities.
Aboriginal Prisoners and Offenders Support Services Inc
Formed in Adelaide in 1994, Aboriginal Prisoners and Offenders Support Services Inc (APOSS) provides an independent Indigenous specific service for Aboriginal prisoners, offenders and their families in line with recommendations in the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report. As well as providing support and assistance, APOSS acts as advocate for Aboriginal prisoners, offenders and their families.
Aboriginal Rainforest Council Inc.
The Aboriginal Rainforest Council (ARC) was established in 2003 as an outcome of three years negotiation between the Department of Environment and Heritage, Wet Tropics Management Authority, Environment Protection Authority/Queensland Parks and Wildlife, and Department of Natural Resources and Mines. In consultation with the Rainforest Aboriginal groups, the ARC acts as a one-stop shop for both government and Rainforest Aboriginal people to deal with natural resource and land management, as well as cultural heritage issues, in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in Queensland.
Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service
Created in 2003, the Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service (AWAHS) in NSW caters for the primary health care needs of the local community, and gives the community a sense of ownership and direction in relation to health issues. As well as providing bulk billing primary health care, AWAHS is also a positive meeting place for the community.
Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation
The aim of Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation (AHAC) is to be the number one primary health care provider and advocate for the community service needs of Aboriginal people in the Tennant Creek region. Its four core programs are the health centre; public health program; stronger families program and active life program. Formed in 1985, the AHAC now has a service area of over 300,000sq kms which has prompted the establishment of the remote health services section.
Arnhemland Progress Association Inc
Established in 1972, the Arnhemland Progress Association (ALPA) serves its members through its core business of running community stores. ALPA's strategic priority is to improve the health and nutrition of the local communities.
Boigu Island Council
Boigu Island Council in the Torres Strait has been operating since 1984. As well as the usual local government concerns such as provision of services, roads, garbage and sanitation, Boigu Island Council is also responsible for employment via a CDEP scheme, public housing and enterprise operations including a guest house and a crab farm.
Broome Aboriginal Media Association
The Broome Aboriginal Media Association (BAMA) was established in 1991 to facilitate and develop Indigenous media, communications and performing arts in the Kimberley region. The organisation delivers its range of services through its company Goolarri Media Enterprises Pty Ltd. These services include Goolarri Radio 99.7FM, GTV35 and video productions, reality based training, music development, events management, information technology and graphics, enhancement of RIBS services and provision of the GME Club outdoor venue.
Bungala Aboriginal Corporation
Bungala Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1994 as a CDEP to provide employment and training opportunities for Indigenous people in the Port Augusta area. The Corporation has a vision to provide participants with opportunities for training and employment that lead to the acquisition of skills aimed at developing and improving their economic, social and cultural status.
Bunya Wakka Wakka Cultural and Heritage Aboriginal Corporation
The Bunya Wakka Wakka Cultural and Heritage Aboriginal Corporation was formed in Queensland in 2005 to help protect cultural and heritage matters, and to give guidance to the local community. Some of the benefits from the corporation are a dialysis unit that has been donated to the community hospital, and the initiation of a scholarship fund for young Indigenous children to further their education to either secondary or tertiary level.
Darkinjung Cattle Company Pty Ltd
Darkinjung Cattle Company Pty Ltd (DCC) was formed in NSW in 2003 to produce high grade branded beef for export, and to improve the breeding herd genetics to increase production efficiency in meat quality and yield. DCC is 75% owned by the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council and 25% owned by Outback Beef. By entering into these kind of joint ventures it aims to promote the usefulness of such enterprises and to show that if operated properly it can provide a great benefit to Aboriginal communities.
Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Inc
Established in 1974, Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Inc (DYHS) provides holistic, culturally secure health services for Aboriginal people and communities in the Perth metropolitan region. DYHS has undertaken a number of positive steps in the past few years to ensure the stability and viability of the organisation. These changes have occurred through the concerted efforts of staff, board and community members to ensure that the service provides the best possible care for clients.
Doomadgee CDEP
The Doomadgee CDEP has been in operation since 1966. It was established to provide employment opportunities and payment for work performed by Indigenous residents of this region of Queensland.
Since the start of 2005, Doomadgee CDEP has been under new management. This has resulted in an overhaul of the whole structure of the organisation and the implementation of six new income-generating projects.
Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service
Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service in NSW has provided an essential, culturally appropriate health and medical service to the Aboriginal communities within its boundaries for the last 28 years. Their goal is to make primary health care and education accessible to all members of the community so as to improve both the health status and wellbeing of the local community.
Durri is very proud of the governance processes it has put in place over the last 10 years and believes that even though there have been many testing periods for Durri over the years, good governance has allowed it to continue to grow and increase services to keep up with community demand.
Eastern Yugambeh Native Title Group Management Committee
In 1998 the Eastern Yugambeh Native Title Group Management Committee was formed in response to a clear need for all Traditional Owner families to be involved in cultural heritage management and native title issues in the local urban region of Queensland. It represents the interests of all the Indigenous communities of the Gold Coast and south east hinterland.
Gannambarra Enterprises
Gannambarra Enterprises was launched in 2001 to develop sustainable businesses and to increase the opportunities for the Indigenous people of Wagga Wagga to be employed in their preferred fields.
Gannambarra Enterprises currently runs four businesses - Deadly Detailers, a car detailing service, Wiradjuri Natives, a nursery, an arts and crafts centre and Gannambarra Pottery.
Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Cooperative
Established in Horsham, Victoria in 1983, the main role of Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Cooperative is to provide a service in health and community welfare to the surrounding district. This includes the areas of culture, health, welfare, education, legal, youth and elders.
Hunter Valley Aboriginal Corporation
Formed in 1993, the Hunter Valley Aboriginal Corporation deals with a range of issues affecting the local Indigenous community including health, education, sport, employment, housing, youth activities, youth homelessness, women?s camps, men?s camps, night patrol and promoting Aboriginal culture. For example, the Corporation provides a transport service for people visiting their families in prison and has also sponsored a young touch football team.
Institute for Aboriginal Development
The Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) was established in Alice Springs in 1969. Its primary aim is to provide education for Aboriginal people up to and including tertiary qualifications.
The Institute also houses an Aboriginal Language and Cultural Centre that specialises in language, cross-cultural and cultural maintenance programs, as well as providing interpreter services and language research. IAD Press also produces materials on Aboriginal people, language and culture.
Kalkadoon Tribal Council Night Patrol
In 2003, the Kalkadoon Tribal Council Night Patrol was created in Mount Isa to assist people at risk. Its role is to assist homeless people, youth at risk, intoxicated people and victims of domestic violence.
Malabam Health Board Aboriginal Corporation
In 1998 the Malabam Health Board was formed in Maningrida in the NT to give the community control of primary health care services by uniting various service providers under one umbrella. Malabam Health Board provides advocacy, policy and administrative support to health organisations in the community and surrounding outstations. It also provides comprehensive primary health and substance use services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the area.
Muda Aboriginal Corporation
Muda Aboriginal Corporation was created in 1995 to protect and promote the living culture of the Indigenous people in north-western NSW. It aims to develop Aboriginal communities in the region by creating employment, encouraging cultural activities, raising the attendance and participation of Aboriginal students in local schools and raising the knowledge and understanding of non-Aboriginal people concerning the past, present and future of Aboriginal people and their culture.
Muda Aboriginal Corporation has developed two very successful arms of business - the Muda Language Centre that is committed to recording, preserving and teaching the local Wangkumarra language, and the popular 2CUZ FM radio station.
Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre
Muru Mittigar are Darug words meaning 'pathway of friends'. The Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre was established in 1998 through a successful collaborative partnership between Penrith Lakes Development Corporation and steering committee members from the University of Western Sydney, Penrith Council, GROW, Traditional Owners and the wider Aboriginal community.
Muru Mittigar has several different business streams including a cultural centre, professional land rehabilitation crew, cafe, retail gallery, accredited wholesale nursery, environmental monitoring services and a range of employment and training programs.
Mutitjulu Aboriginal Community Corporation
The Mutitjulu Aboriginal Community Corporation was originally incorporated as the Uluru Community in 1974. It was created to provide services to the local community in the areas of well being, housing, education and training, enterprises, land management, supporting culture and self determination, and managing community services.
Naramya Aboriginal Corporation
Naramya Aboriginal Corporation was created in the south west of WA in 1999. The purpose of the organisation is to maintain and protect Aboriginal law, customs, songs, sites and traditions.
Narrama Multi Service Aboriginal Corporation
Narrama Multi Service Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1993 to provide care for frail, aged and disabled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within their communities in the Bega and Eurobolla shires in NSW.
The service provides aged care packages, meals on wheels, peer support, a youth program, carer respite and training in community service.
Nauiyu Nambiyu Community Government Council
The Nauiyu Nambiyu Community Government Council has been in operation in the Northern Territory since 1988. As well as the main concerns of roads, rates and rubbish the Council also runs a child care centre, sports and recreation facility, mechanical workshop, housing branch, an essential services branch, civil works branch, night patrol, aged care program and CDEP. The Council also manages a licensed club and takeaway, the Nauiyu store, the Daly River Roadside Inn and the Daly Riverbank Store.
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is a newly formed organisation that intends to be a one-stop shop for justice for Indigenous people in the Top End. It was created by bringing together three Aboriginal Legal Services to provide legal aid and justice initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Northern Territory.
NAAJA has a number of different streams including community legal education with prisoners and others, juvenile justice campaigns such as the 2 deadly 4 violence program aimed at urban youth, and advocacy and liaison with government decision-makers, police and other key stakeholders.
Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadberre Regional Council
Established in 2003, Nyirranggulung Mardrulk Ngadberre Regional Council (NMNRC) is an amalgamation of seven communities and a number of outstations. It was formed to give Aboriginal people a louder voice in the Katherine region and to achieve economies of scale by centralising the operations of a number of smaller councils.
NMNRC seeks to maintain observance and respect for traditional values, and to join the responsibilities and structures of traditional authority with modern local government to achieve a high quality of life and a wide range of opportunities and choices for Aboriginal people in the region.
Papulankutja Artists
Papulankutja Artists in Western Australia has applied for the awards on behalf of Kayili Artists, Warakurna Artists, Minymaku Artists and Irrunytju Artists. Earlier this year, Papulankutja Artists identified a clear need to develop the skills of the art centre committee and so established the Ngaanyatjarra Governance Training Program, a series of workshops for the art centres in the region.
The energy the program has created across this remote region of the central and western deserts has been of enormous benefit to the centres. Each has gained a more skilled and competent executive committee, some of whom also sit on other boards and committees, thus devolving the skills deeper into the community and region. In communities of acute disadvantage and significant cross-cultural challenges, the governance training has resulted in a robust, open forum for committees to understand and participate in the art centres' operations. Staff have also benefited by acquiring new skills and practices to ensure accountability and equity.
Shared Vision Aboriginal Corporation
In 2000 the Shared Vision Aboriginal Corporation was established to facilitate change in the delivery of services in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. It operates an information and access centre to enable members of the local Indigenous community to gain better access to services.
South Eastern Aboriginal Regional Management Services
Established in 2003, the South Eastern Aboriginal Regional Management Service (SEARMS) is a co-operative that consists of six Aboriginal housing providers, servicing the Aboriginal communities between Ulladulla and Bodalla on the NSW south coast. SEARMS was created under a Regional Management Model to improve service provision of to the community owned rental properties and bring about better housing management performance outcomes.
St Francis Xavier's Primary School
St Francis Xavier's Primary School has been teaching students from the Lake Cargelligo area of NSW since 1929. It aims to provide a full education to the children and adults in this isolated community, as well as give support and continuing love to the entire community. The school strives to ensure that Indigenous children are given every opportunity to learn about their culture and participate in activities, especially sporting and cultural events, outside this remote community.
Sutherland Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee
In 1998 the Sutherland Shire Council in NSW established the Aboriginal Advisory Committee to ensure that there would be appropriate consultation, partnership and planning with the local Aboriginal community.
The role of the committee is to advise decision-makers on matters of relevance to the Indigenous people of the area, and to work together to achieve the best outcomes for the community as a whole.
Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Media Association
Formed in 1981, the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Media Association (TAIMA) network broadcasts to over 20 Indigenous communities in north Queensland. It provides informative programs on topical issues, up to date news and information and resources to the wider community. It also promotes local artists, identities and role models and provides training and employment opportunities for Indigenous people.
Traditional Credit Union
Established in 1994, the original aim of the Traditional Credit Union was to provide financial services to residents of Arnhemland communities who were disadvantaged by a lack of banking provisions. Today it provides personalised, quality financial services for Indigenous people and organisations in numerous remote communities of the Northern Territory.
Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre
The Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre was established in 1987 when concerned Aboriginal people of the Pilbara came together to discuss how they could preserve and protect the thirty Aboriginal languages of the region, and how they could educate others about the languages, culture and history of the Pilbara.
Wangka Maya aims to be recognised as the leading Aboriginal language resource centre in Australia. The purpose of the organisation is to work with the elderly to gather their expertise and knowledge, and to record and foster Aboriginal languages, culture and history. In turn this information will be used to educate the next generation.
Warlayirti Artisits Aboriginal Corporation
Established in 1987, Warlayirti Artisits supports the art and culture of Indigenous people in the Kutjungka Region (Balgo, Billiluna, Mulan and Yaka Yaka) in the southern Kimberley region of WA. It represents more than 300 practicing artists generating social and economic benefits that flow from the production and sale of their art. Warlayirti Artists operates an Art Centre and a Culture Centre that sell fine art work and facilitate a range of programs and activities which support the development of artists and the broader wellbeing of the artists and their families.
Warnkurr Sports and Social Club
The Warnkurr Sports and Social Club was created in 1998 to provide a licensed liquor outlet in Kalkaringi in the NT, offering a social drinking atmosphere and the responsible service of alcohol. The club aims to continue to improve its facilities and to ensure that the needs of the community are met in conjunction with the requirements of all relevant legislative bodies.
Women's Karadi Aboriginal Corporation
In 1988 the Women's Karadi Aboriginal Corporation was established in Tasmania to meet the need for a separate Indigenous women's space to foster learning and to be a meeting place. The purpose of Karadi is to support Aboriginal community members and their extended families, as well as to foster the role of women as an integral part of the community's cultural identity. It also promotes recognition of women as lead role models in the family unit.
Wuchopperen Health Service Limited
Following a survey conducted in 1979 into Aboriginal health needs in far north Queensland, donations were raised to form Wuchopperen Health Service Ltd. The purpose of Wuchopperen is to provide essential health care to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so they can enjoy a level of good health to contribute to and share in the economic wealth and cultural richness and prosperity of the region.
Wunan Foundation Inc
The Wunan Foundation was established in 1997 as a community-driven initiative by the elected representative body for Indigenous people in the East Kimberley, the ATSIC Wunan Regional Council. The Foundation was set up as an independent organisation with the capacity to provide local Aboriginal people with better opportunities to engage effectively in the regional economy and achieve greater self-empowerment to help restore key traditional cultural values, rights, equality and respect.
The main activities of the Foundation include partnerships with Kimberley Group Training to recruit, train, place and mentor young trainees and apprentices, Kimberley Wilderness Adventures, Wunan House which is the only hostel in the East Kimberley catering especially for young Aboriginal people pursuing education, training and employment, and also with the Business Services Centre that provides a range of customized services to support remote Indigenous community organisations.
Yamatji Marlpa Barna Baba Maaja Aboriginal Corporation
The Yamatji Marlpa Barna Baba Maaja Aboriginal Corporation (YMBBMAC) was was first recognised as a native title representative body for the Yamatji region in WA in 1994 and assumed responsibility for the Pilbara region in 2000.
The primary role of the organisation is to conduct facilitation, certification, notification, dispute resolution and agreement making functions under the Native Title Act on behalf of the native title claim groups it represents.
Yarrabah Shire Council
Yarrabah Aboriginal Council in Queensland was established as the local government body for Yarrabah as part of the Queensland Government's grant of land rights and self-management to 14 Aboriginal communities in 1984, and had previously existed as an advisory body since the 1960s. The Council is currently undergoing a transition to new legislation that reconstitutes the Council as a Shire Council subject to the provisions of the mainstream Local Government Act in Queensland. The Council is actively engaging with the transition process because it sees it as the next step in Yarrabah?s journey to achieving full self-management.
Yirra Yaakin Aboriginal Corporation
Yirra Yaakin Aboriginal Corporation was established in Perth in 1993 to tell the stories of Aboriginal communities through an Indigenous determined performing arts process. The company has evolved from a successful youth theatre project to Australia's leading Aboriginal theatre company. It now has a world-wide reach with major national and international tours of authentic Aboriginal theatre.
Yumba-Meta Housing Association Ltd
Yumba-Meta Housing Association Ltd (YMHA) is a non-profit organisation that was established in 1973. It provides long-term, secure, affordable and culturally appropriate accommodation and housing related support services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the Townsville region.