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 of our FIRE Carriers contributing to our Newsletter.