Uni proud of NAIDOC Week national winners
Published on 16 July, 2008
CQUniversity Australia is proud to have an association with 2 of the latest NAIDOC* Week national winners - community member Bob Muir and former student Amy McQuire.
The University's Office of Development and Graduate Relations nominated Mr Muir for the Elder of the Year (Male) award and was overjoyed to hear he was the winning finalist (announced on July 12 at the National Canberra Convention Centre).
Elder of the Year Bob Muir
Amy McQuire at work
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Meanwhile, Amy McQuire - the NAIDOC Week Apprentice of the Year - was supported by the University's Nulloo Yumbah centre and started her studies at CQUniversity in Rockhampton before taking up a journalism cadetship with the National Indigenous Times in Canberra. A few years earlier as a Heights College student, Amy participated in Rockhampton's High School Newsreader of the Year competition.
According to the NAIDOC Awards website:
At 18, Amy became the youngest member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery, and the gallery's only Aboriginal reporter. Over the same period, she began laying out the front of the newspaper, a skill that normally requires about 10 years' experience. In addition to a fortnightly column titled Blackcurrent, she has written several feature articles. With an Aboriginal and South Sea Islander heritage, she is devoted to issues of social justice for Indigenous people and has written on a wide range of contemporary and historical subjects.
According to the NAIDOC Awards website:
"Leader, speaker, activist, mentor, and innovator - all are titles that can describe Bob Muir, whose deeds in the Central Queensland region over the past 2 decades have become the stuff of legend".
"Born in 1958, Bob Muir is a descendant of the Woppaburra people of the Dharumbal nation. Since the age of 24, Bob has devoted his life to three major goals:
"Bob has been a powerhouse in the Central Queensland community, working with government agencies and higher education institutions to promote awareness of Indigenous cultural heritage and environmental protection issues.
"He has mentored, influenced and educated students and young adults through programs instigated by Education Queensland and Greening Australia.
"Through his diverse and tireless work, and a readiness to extend the hand of friendship, Bob has won respect and admiration for himself and built bridges between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
"As an admirer observed, Bob has inspired others to believe that dreams can come true and, in pursuit of his dreams, he has touched many lives and achieved many things for his people and the Reconciliation process within Queensland and the nation.
Hunt leaves with mixed feelings
* NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee'. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week (see History of NAIDOC), and its acronym has become the name of the week itself.