Black excellence and community leadership were honoured at the 2023 National NAIDOC Week Awards in Brisbane on Saturday.
Key points:
- The most prestigious Person of the Year award went to Australia’s first Indigenous surgeon Kelvin Kong
- Creative Talent Award winner Rachel Perkins used her acceptance speech to call on Australians to vote ‘yes’ for the Voice to Parliament
- A member of The Sapphires girl group and a professional netballer were also among the winners
Folks were dressed to impress at the 2023 NAIDOC Ball where 10 winners were recognised for their triumphs and life-changing contributions, with a trailblazer from the health sector taking the top award.
The referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament was also on the night’s agenda.
Rachel Perkins, who took home the Creative Talent Award, used her acceptance speech to urge Australians to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum later this year.
“Can I also pay respect to Linda Burney, Minister of Indigenous Australians,” Ms Perkins said during her speech.
“(And) Pat Anderson, elder of the year last year — these two women are leading us with the Uluru Statement from the Heart and leading the country to a ‘Yes’ this year. Stand with us, Australia,” she said.
Ms Perkins is the daughter of civil rights activist and politician Charles Perkins but she blazed her own trail, using her 30-plus year career to truth-tell Australian history that many didn’t hear at school.
The Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman adds her NAIDOC gong to an existing large shelf of awards including a TV Week Logie Award and an Australian Writers and Directors Guild Award.
The major award of the evening, the NAIDOC Person of the Year, went to Worimi man Professor Kelvin Kong, who is Australia’s first Indigenous surgeon.
“I’m accepting this award on the back of terrible ear statistics, I’m ashamed of that,” the ear, nose and throat surgeon said in his acceptance speech.
“But I don’t want to dwell on some of the horrible statistics of some of the operations I do — I’d rather dwell on some of the happier successes.”
Outside of his job at John Hunter Hospital on Awabakal country, Dr Kong spends time in remote areas where patients battle with long waiting lists and a shortage of specialists.
Middle-ear disease is impacting more than 50 per cent of First Nations children living in remote communities.
“Our culture, it is so wonderful,” Dr Kong continued in his speech.
“For our Elders who have done so much for us — I stand here before you because of the opportunities you gave to us and it is so pleasing to be here representing what you’ve done.”
“I look forward to having a dance tonight with everyone on the dance floor.”
This year’s award finalists were whittled down from a pool of almost 200 nominees.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, attended the event and presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Aunty Dr Naomi Mayers OAM.
Dr Mayers’s life began on the Erambie Mission in central News South Wales before training to become a nurse at 18 years old.
She was also an entertainer and the founding member of The Sapphires — the all-Aboriginal and internationally recognised girl group known for its soulful harmonies.
Although the band travelled to Vietnam to perform for the soldiers, Dr Mayers instead joined the war protesters at public demonstrations in Melbourne.
Activism was always at the heart of Dr Mayers’s work, along with administration and policy.
She eventually became a chief executive officer, with her contributions recognised in 1984 when awarded a Medal of Order of Australia (OAM).
Dr Mayers has been fundamental to the success of Australia’s first Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) in Redfern, a community-controlled model that has spread right across the nation.
She was also central to the establishment of the first Aboriginal Housing company and first Aboriginal preschool in New South Wales.
The finalists for each award category were:
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Aunty Dr Naomi Mayers OAM
- Person of the Year: Professor Kelvin Kong
- Female Elder: Aunty Dr Matilda House-Williams
- Male Elder: William Tilmouth
- Sportsperson Award: Donnell Wallam
- Youth Award: Courtney Burns
- Creative Talent Award: Rachel Perkins
- Caring for Country and Culture: Lala Gutchen
- Education: Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child and Family Centre
- Innovation: Daniel Motlop