FIRE Carriers

Leah Purcell

Written by Niamh C

Leah Purcell was born in Murgon, Queensland. She is the youngest of  seven siblings. Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer. After a difficult adolescence looking after her sick mother, Florence, who died while Leah was in her late teens, Leah left Murgon and moved to Brisbane and became involved with community theatre.

She was the first indigenous woman to write, direct and star in her own feature film. She wrote a speech for the first nations Blak and Bright Literary Festival. A proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Leah Purcell AM is one of Australia’s leading actors, with award-winning roles in theater, film and television. Some of her shows include High Country, Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Redfern 12.   

2024 FIRE Carriers

FIRE stands for Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education. The FIRE Carrier Project is a joint initiative of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Victoria and the Opening the Doors Foundation with the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools.  The story of FIRE Carriers began with a dream to bring Aboriginal culture, history and spirituality into the forefront of education in Catholic schools. It was important to teach the stories of the oldest living culture to our youngest generations to ensure the living truth, the dreams and hopes of our Indigenous people were heard. This would be a genuine pathway to reconciliation. The fire spread and the initiative of the FIRE Carriers has grown throughout Melbourne and parts of Victoria for over 10 years. We are grateful to Fiona Lee for returning to OLA a couple of times each term to lead our FIRE Carrier Program at OLA Cheltenham.

Our 2024 FIRE Carriers are:

Lily M

Niamh C

Alicia M

Bella F