OLA Newsletter

FIRE Carriers

2023 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 and Gen O'Meara for leading our FIRE Carrier Program at OLA Cheltenham.

 

Our 2023 FIRE Carriers are:

Alastair D

Alessio P

Alice W

Annabel E

Ben S

Isabella K

Paige James - Gymnast

 

Hi! This is Annabel and I’m one of the six FIRE carriers for 2023. One of our jobs is to write for the newsletter about something we’re passionate about, one thing I’m passionate about is gymnastics so I’ve chosen to do a piece about Paige James. The first indigenous person to be selected in an Australian gymnastics team.

 

Paige was born in Perth in 2000 and is a proud Wongi/Yamatji and Bidjara woman. Paige is a wonderful member of the indigenous community, and a role model for all young people.

 

When Paige was six her parents decided to enrol her in some gymnastic classes. It turned out she loved it! As her parents saw her flipping off couches and washing lines they decided to challenge her with more training. This is when her talent shone and soon she was offered a place in the West Australian Institute of Sport program and was also offered a spot in the Australian Junior National Squad at only 8 years old!!!

 

2013 was her breakout year. Paige was the youngest gymnast to be selected to represent Australia in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival Squad at only 12. In the same year she won silver in Floor and All-Around at the Perth Dreamlight International Challenge and competed at the International Year of the Child Tournament. A standout routine earned her a gold medal on Floor and a silver medal in the All round category.

Late 2013 bad luck struck Paige down, a terrible injury forcing her to sit out for months until she returned in 2014 better than ever. Paige was awarded a scholarship to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and chose Cathy Freeman as her mentor….just 1 year after coming back from her injury! Paige continues to dream off more sporting success and maybe even a place at next years Olympics! 

 

Good luck Paige, we’ll be cheering for you!

 

 

Annabel E

OLA FIRE Carrier

We look forward to each fortnight one or two of our FIRE Carriers contributing to our Newsletter.

 

 

 

Scott Boland - Cricketer

Hi Everyone

 

l’m Alastair and I’m very proud to be one of the 2023 FIRE carriers. For those that don’t know me, I love sport. So it’s no wonder that in this newsletter we are going to be talking about an indigenous person who has represented Australia in their chosen sport.

 

There have been many indigenous people who have represented Australia through sport - Cathy Freeman (athletics), Evonne Goolagong-Cawley (tennis), Lionel Rose (boxing) and Harry Williams (soccer).

 

However, we are going to be talking about a cricketer by the name of Scott Boland. Scott and his family did not know of their heritage until Scott’s uncle started to do some research.

 

The Boland family knew that Scott’s grandfather, John Edwards was adopted, but just where he came from was a mystery.

 

Scott’s grandfather was descended from the Gulidjan people of Western Victoria. Lots of indigenous families don’t find out their heritage because it’s either hidden or ignored. Since learning about his heritage Scott has continued to learn more about his Indigenous culture and what it means to the Indigenous people.

 

Here’s a little more information about Scott. 

 

Scott was born on 11 April 1989 in Mordialloc. He went to St John Vianney’s Primary School in Parkdale and St Bede’s College, Mentone for his secondary school.

 

Scott is only the second Indigenous male to play Test cricket for Australia, the other is Jason Gillespie. There have also been two Indigenous females to represent the women’s Test team.

 

Awards 

  • 2021 Mullagh Medal for best player at the Boxing Day Test - spectacular debut performance of seven wickets (6/7 and 1/48)
  • 2021 Taverners Indigenous Player of the Year

 

 

Alastair D

OLA FIRE Carrier