Congratulations to CQU Masters graduate Vanessa Seekee and her husband Liberty, who have won the 2008 Premier's Reconciliation Award for their efforts to preserve and highlight the World War II history of Indigenous people from the Torres Strait.

Ms Seekee, from Gateway Resort on Horn Island, where she runs a museum operation, was supervised by Dr Steve Mullins and Dr Karl Neuenfeldt for her MA in History on World War II in the Torres Strait.

Vanessa Seekee accepts her award - Photo by Qld Govt photographer Tony Phillips

The work on her topic entitled "In Their Footsteps: Horn Island in WW2" earned her degree in 2005.

Vanessa and Liberty's Torres Strait Heritage organisation gained the Emerging Business Award and the Premier's Reconciliation Award for educating visitors about the partnership of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the defence of Australia during World War II.

"My husband Liberty and I would like to thank our parents, especially Fay and the late Richard Seekee who have supported us with the Torres Strait Heritage Museum and Horn Island WWII tours," Vanessa said.

"We would like to dedicate the award to all those Torres Strait WWII Indigenous and non-Indigenous veterans who were practising reconcilliation 65 years ago.

"We can certainly learn a great deal from their example and carry this on through our own lives.

"We hope this award will highlight the need for the conservation of their WWII sites in Torres Strait and assist Torres Strait veterans in their striving for the Service Pension."

Premier Anna Bligh congratulates Vanessa, who is with her mother Tricia Zendler

Around the time of gaining her Masters degree in 2005, Vanessa was also awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the World War II veterans of Torres Strait.

Her Masters was a history of the World War II airbase at Horn Island, Torres Strait. It explored the anomaly of Horn Island being classified a non-operational area during the war, arguing that the designation was wrong, and that the men and women who served there should be given due recognition, the physical measure of which is the 1939-45 Star Medal.

She played an important role in the lobby that persuaded the Commonwealth to award Torres Strait veterans the Star Medal, thus giving them access to full veterans' medical benefits.

Ms Seekee arrived in the Torres Strait in 1994 as a teacher but now curates the Horn Island museum and conducts World War II tours.

In 2000 she was given the honour of carrying the Olympic Torch on Thursday Island and contributed to a TV documentary on the veterans.