Waa Waa Everyone
Welcome to our YARNIN UP STRONG NEWSLETTER! My name is Annette Sax, I am a Taungurung woman and the Creative Arts Director of Yarn Strong Sista. This year we will celebrate Yarn Strong Sista’s 20th Birthday! YSS started from a story that was told to us by the late Aunty Iris Lovett- Gardiner who was a Gunditjmara Elder and Activist. Her story “The Possum Hunt” Puppet Show was a reflection of her families connection to their Aboriginal Cultural Practices and resilience and resistance to the Policies of the Government of the time.
We are dedicated to providing programs and resources that foreground Aboriginal culture and pedagogy in all levels of Education. Yarn Strong Sista (YSS) is a National Indigenous Educational Consultancy and Online Training Provider. We are an Indigenous owned and run organisation specialising in Aboriginal Education Resources that foreground positive Aboriginal Identity and the strengths of Aboriginal Culture.
Congratulations Hollie!
Winner of Yarn Strong Sista’s Young Achievers Award, 2021
Congratulations to Hollie Johnson upon receiving the Channel 7 News ‘Yarn Strong Sista’ Indigenous achievement award 2021.
Hollie is a proud Gunai-Kurnai and Monero-Ngarigo women who has been working in language reclamation, both by teaching Indigenous language in schools, as well as taking the role of mentor to Indigenous students.
Through her work for the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), Hollie has supported over 200 students.
More recently Hollie is the co-founder of the company ‘Deadly Wears’ and true to her passion integrates the use of traditional language onto the Deadly Wears clothing and platform’.
Yarn Strong Sista joined the Young Achievers Award in 2019. Signing on as the sole Indigenous supporter and sponsoring the Victorian Indigenous Achievement Award. YSS has always had a strong focus on mentoring young Indigenous People, this with the goal to empower the young as well create an environment that fosters self-determination.
‘It is wonderful to see that young Indigenous women have won the award two years in a row, its remarkable the contribution and change these women have made to their communities.”
Robert Williams, Yarn Strong Sista Treasurer.
Robert initiated the sponsorship and believes in the importance of both recognising and positively acknowledging the work young Indigenous people are doing in their communities.
What’s coming up : Sorry Day
Sorry Day is observed annually on 26 May, National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as ‘The Stolen Generations’.
National Sorry Day is a day to acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generations Survivors and reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process for our people and nation. While this date carries great significance for the Stolen Generations and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it is also commemorated by Australians right around the country.
Do you know the History of National Sorry Day?
The first National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in Parliament. The Bringing Them Home Report is a result of a Government Inquiry into the past policies which caused children to be removed from their families and communities in the 20th century.
