Indigenous Achievers Honoured

National 2009 NAIDOC awards announced

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=836258 - 00:16 AEST Sat Jul 11 2009

13 July 2009

A testament to the high quality of nominations -the committee decided to award 11 indigenous Australians with National NAIDOC Awards in 2009

Academic, author and Aboriginal affairs advocate Professor Larissa Behrendt (Behrendt) has been named Indigenous Person of the Year. The award was announced at Friday's NAIDOC Week ball in Brisbane attended by 1,300 people, including Governor-General Quentin Bryce. Prof Behrendt, a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman, is Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. She has published works on property law, indigenous rights, dispute resolution and Aboriginal women's issues. She won the 2002 David Uniapon Award and a 2005 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for her novel Home. The National NAIDOC Committee also gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue for her distinguished leadership in indigenous affairs and her contribution in the battle for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The NAIDOC ball and awards ceremony was the climax of a week of celebrations. Thousands of indigenous people from around southeast Queensland enjoyed a Family Fun Day at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane on Friday. National NAIDOC Committee co-chairs Anne Martin and Ben Mitchell said the awards paid tribute to the outstanding contributions that indigenous individuals make to their communities, their chosen fields and the broader Australian society. "It is a testament to the high quality of these nominations that the committee decided to award 11 indigenous Australians with National NAIDOC Awards, including joint winners for both the Female Elder of the Year and Male Elder of the Year awards," the pair said in a statement. Doris Eaton, of Perth, and Elsie Heiss, of Sydney, were the female elders, while Frank Lampard, from Adelaide, and Reginald Knox, of Brisbane, were named male elders. Youth of the Year was won by Darwin's Gemma Benn and Scholar of the Year by Chelsea Bond, of Brisbane. Thursday Island's Danny Sebasio (Sebasio) is Apprentice of the Year. The annual award for Artist of the Year was given to Melbourne's Wayne Quilliam (Quilliam). AFL legend Andrew McLeod of the Adelaide Crows was named Sportsperson of the Year. Friday night's ball featured a spectacular line-up of indigenous talent, including country music star Troy Cassar-Daley, Brisbane-based band Banawurun and Melbourne singer-songwriter Dan Sultan. Performers from the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts in Brisbane and Sydney's Bangarra Dance Theatre also performed at the function hosted by Deborah Mailman and Ernie Dingo. The NAIDOC committee named Melbourne as the focus city for 2010 celebrations.

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