Fire Carriers

Last week we commissioned our 2025 FIRE Carriers.  Each fortnight one of the FIRE Carriers will write up an informative piece for our newsletter about something of interest to them with Indigenous links.  They look forward to sharing this information with the OLA community throughout the year.

“Hi, my name is Oscar and I’m one of the new FIRE Carriers of 2025. I loved the ceremony in which we got our badges and I am proud to become a FIRE Carrier. I also enjoyed having my parents come and support me in this responsibility.”

 

"My name is Alex and I am looking forward to leading the acknowledgement of country, prayer and liturgy and represent OLA at community events and gatherings."

 

"Hi, I'm Olly one of the 2025 FIRE Carriers. I really enjoyed the FIRE Carrier Commissioning Ceremony and I was so proud to have my parents there."

 

"Hi, my name is Xavier and I am one of the 2025 FIRE Carriers. The thing that I enjoyed most about the ceremony was the pride that I felt and that my parents were there to watch it."

Cathy Freeman

Cathy Freeman is well known to many.  Cathy Freeman was an incredible runner that had many accomplishments.  She was born on February 16 1973 in Mackay Queensland. 

Freeman began competitive running on the advice of her stepfather. At age 17 she won a gold medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a member of the 4 × 100-metre relay team and was named Young Australian of the Year. In 1992 she became the first Australian Aboriginal person to compete in the Olympics. Although she failed to win a medal at the Barcelona Games, Freeman’s profile continued to grow, and she brought new attention to Aboriginal people, who had historically encountered discrimination.

One of her many accomplishments was being the first indigenous person to win a solo gold medal in the Olympics. It was in the year 2000, in front of a home crowd in Sydney, NSW.

She was named Australian of the Year twice. On her victory lap at the 2000 Olympic Games, Cathy carried both the Indigenous and Australian flags.

Many people thought that it was a step towards the process of reconciliation.

Cathy’s PB for the 100m sprint is 11.24 seconds, her 200m record is 22.25 seconds, and her 400m record is 48.63 seconds.

But her real impact was to young Indigenous Australians by showing them that anything is possible when you put the effort in and believe in yourself.

We should always follow this example.

Xavier Moore