Organisational Manager

Dianne Baldock recently started as Organisational Manager, Di comes with a wealth of experience, skills and insights in developing and an managing Aboriginal Organisation that will be invaluable to us as our services grow in the coming years. We look forward to working closely with Di and developing our operations in the north east region.

To contact Di please email: baldockdianne1@gmail.com

Board of Directors

Under corporation rules, a Director can hold position up to maximum of 2-years before they are  required to resign from their position at the AGM. Upon resignation, an immediate former director may become eligible for re-nomination and maybe elected for a further 2-year period.

This governance model ensures an open and transparent process that provides members with new and fresh ideas, the opportunity to become actively involved in the management of the organisation.

Current Directors

Following the AGM held on Saturday 11th November 2023, the current Directors are:

• Nick Cameron (Chairperson)
• Rob Anders (Deputy Chairperson)
• Jo Cameron (Contact Person)
• Lorrinda Murray (Secretary)
• Lyndon O’Neil (Treasurer)
• Barbara Rees
• Greg Murray
• Tully O’Neil

Director Profiles

Nick Cameron – Chairperson

Nick has been on the MTWAC Board of Directors since 2014 and held the position of Chairperson since 2016, he is also a Director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service (TALS). He is a Pairrebeene/Trawlwoolway man from Tebrakunna Country (Coastal Plains Nation) and also has ancestry to the Paredareme of the Oyster Bay Nation. The son of respected Elder Aunty Patsy Cameron AO, Nick grew up on Flinders Island  listening to story telling and learning the traditional ways of mutton birding and hunting kangaroo with his Uncles. Nick left the Island in 1986 to undertake an Automotive Mechanical Trade Apprenticeship, he accepted an Aboriginal Cadetship as a trainee TAFE Teacher in 1994 and was awarded the TRAC Tasmanian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Trainee  of the Year in 1995, and runner-up in the National awards. Through a continuing 31 year career within the Tasmanian Public Service he has carried out many positions from Aboriginal VET Consultant, Statewide Coordinator of Aboriginal Training Programs, Customer Relations Manager, Acting Manager of Industry Relationships, and Education Manager of Automotive, one of the largest delivery teams within TasTAFE. Nick has recently taken up a senior leadership role of Manager Education and Training. With 15 years experience in leadership roles he has gained a Diploma of Management, Diploma of Adult and Vocational Education, and has recently completed a Tasmanian Government Manager Essentials Program. He also has completed a training program in Governance for Directors, Non-for-Profit Organisations by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Nick has a strong passion for returning and caring for country at Tebrakunna, helping Elders passing on cultural knowledge to our young people by showing them how to make spears, music sticks and hunting sticks. “Whenever I’m back on Country (land or sea) I feel like I’m home, a strong sense of peace and belonging”.

 

Rob Anders – Deputy Chairperson

Rob has been member since 2009, shortly after the organisation was formed. He is an active member who has been on the Board of Directors for most of this time and is a representative on the Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance (TRACA). Professionally, Rob has a surveying and spatial sciences background with 30 years’ experience working at the University of Tasmania as a Senior Technical Officer in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences. He has used these skills to pursue his interest in the application of spatial mapping techniques to research Tasmania’s Aboriginal history and is the author of maps appearing in several books and other works. Since 2018, Rob has taken on a 0.5 fraction role within the College of Science and Engineering (CoSE) as the Aboriginal Education and Strategy Officer. This is a wide-ranging position that has the goal to elevate the level of staff and student understanding of and respect for Tasmanian Aboriginal culture, heritage, needs, aspirations, and interests, which is achieved through enabling curriculum development, research support, staff education, and providing strategic/policy advice and support. Recently, his effort was recognised by being announced in the College of Science and Engineering Awards by being awarded the joint winner of the Executive Deans ‘Engagement Award’. Rob has a keen interest in caring for Country through the management and protection of heritage sites and landscape, practicing culture, and sharing his knowledge and experiences. Since 2017, he has been a member of the statutory Aboriginal Heritage Council (AHC) under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975.  Rob has particular interest in Sea Country and its management. He has been involved in the organising and running of each Mannalargenna Day event since its inception in 2016.

 

Jo Cameron – Contact Person

Jo is one of 6 founding members of MTWAC who formed the corporation in 2008. Jo rejoined the Board of Directors in 2019 and currently holds the voluntary position of Contact Person. Jo is passionate about health and healing, having been an accredited Social Worker for almost 30 years, with a career in youth mental health for most of that time. She is currently the manager of a youth mental health program in the community service sector, being awarded National Practice Leader in 2019. She recently Co-Authored a chapter on “Respect: A Tasmanian Aboriginal Narrative” in Effective Leaders by Mike Cameron 2021. Jo has an interest in Closing the Gap initiatives, higher education access and participation and return to country opportunities for Aboriginal people in her close extended community. Jo was raised on Flinders Island, within a large Aboriginal community. She was fortunate to observe and be influenced by strong, determined and vibrant women (her mother Aunty Patsy Cameron AO and many Aunties) during her childhood and their values remain central to her sense of identity as an Aboriginal woman. Jo hopes to find the time (when the kids finally leave home) to write, alongside her sister, about the voices of strength that exists in her community and the importance of honouring these as the narrative of healing in contrast to the message that has, for too long, been focused on notions of deficiency, failure and inferiority.

 

Lorrinda Murray – Secretary

Lorrinda is a proud trawlwoolway woman, born and raised in Launceston. She has been a Director of MTWAC since 2020 and currently is MTWAC’s Secretary. Lorrinda has a 25 year career in the Australian Public Service, focusing on Indigenous servicing and strategic program governance. Her passion is her family and ensuring current and future generations continue to learn and share the stories and practices that were passed onto her by her mother.

 

Lyndon O’Neil – Treasurer

Lyndon is a father of 4 boys. He is a grandson of Rex Kennedy and a descendant of Mannalargenna via Dalrymple. He is a proud and strong trawlwulway man who embraces all Tasmanian Aboriginal people. As a young child, Lyndon grew up amongst the Papuan peoples of Papua New Guinea until 1976. After moving back to Tasmania and completing grade 10 and then a mechanical apprenticeship with the Department of Main Roads (DMR), Lyndon owned and operated a Service Station and Workshop in Ulverstone. He has worked as a Therapeutic Mentor for at-risk, disengaged, and children living with trauma – this work was recognised in 2008 when he was recipient of the Tasmanian Community Safety and Crime Prevention Award. Since Lyndon and his boys have been welcomed into Melythina Tiakana Warrana Aboriginal Corporation, they have found their extended family and community and have embraced and supported MTWAC.  Lyndon is a contemporary practitioner of traditional ways, who embraces the guidance of our ancestors and the spirits of land, water and the sky. MTWAC helped Lyndon to heal and reconnect with Country – it has rekindled his life “like a breath of wind that brings life to a spark which has laid dormant in the ashes”.  Lyndon looks to engage with the wider community, the corporate world, and government on environmental and cultural matters, as we move forward together in reconciliation.

 

Barbara Rees – Director

Barbara Rees has been on the MTWAC Board of Directors since 2018, undertaking the role of Secretary and recently Memberships, her background is in Administration. Barb was born in Launceston and focused on music performance from the age of 19 going on to become a professional musician. She still enjoys playing keyboards and piano, her musical background helping with the sound and music production at our annual Mannalargenna Day Community Festival. Barb has an active connection with her heritage at Sherwood Hall now it has been relocated to Latrobe. Her ancestor is Mannalargenna from the Pairrebeenne/Tarlwoolway clan of the Coastal Plains Nation, his Granddaughter Dalrymple (Dolly to some) and Thomas Johnson’s son Thomas Jnr and Elizabeth Atkinson being her Great Great Grandparents. Barbs’ parents (George and Fay Ralph) were there from the beginning of planning to transfer Sherwood Hall to Bells Parade back in 1993 – her mum is very proud of her Aboriginal heritage. Dalrymple represents for Barb, survival, resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity to help her family survive those difficult times – she was caught in the middle of the conflict between the ‘European Establishment’ and Tasmanian First Nations People. She became interested in her connection and what cultural heritage means to her through MTWAC, it offered a positive connection with members of community, business, companies and other organisations for which she remains a proud representative. MTWAC gives her an opportunity to help through involvement and inclusion, bringing new members into the organisation. Barb feels our cultural event, Mannalargenna Day is now a North East Tasmanian annual highlight and shows a bright future.

 

Greg Murray

 

Tully O’Neil