Our Committee

The Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Incorporated Committee consists of:

Graeme Miniter

Graeme Miniter

Chairperson

Olivia Roberts

Olivia Roberts

Vice-Chairperson

Mary Gimondo

Mary Gimondo

Secretary

Lefki Kailis

Lefki Kailis

Minute Secretary, Liaison Treasurer

Maxim Business Solutions

Maxim Business Solutions

Treasurer

Ted Farmer

Ted Farmer

Committee Member

Cass Lynch

Cass Lynch

Committee Member

Connie Moses

Connie Moses

Committee Member

Kim Scott

Kim Scott

Committee Member

Glenda Williams

Glenda Williams

Committee Member

Iris Woods

Iris Woods

Committee Member

Graeme Miniter

Graeme Miniter

Chairperson

Graeme Miniter was born at the Gnowangerup Mission to parents Roy Miniter and Elaine Miniter nee Brown . He attended primary school in Borden, Mt Lockyer and Spencer Park and high school in Albany. Upon leaving school Mr Miniter has worked for the Education Department as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Southern Aboriginal  Corporation as a program manager. He also served as Chairperson of the Executive Board at South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.

 

Olivia Roberts

Vice-Chairperson

 Olivia Roberts is a proud Wirlomin lady. She has broad shoulders and a big heart, having worked for decades in Aboriginal health throughout the Great Southern region. Orphaned at 10, she has grown up with a strong kinship with extended family who have instilled the importance of heritage, culture, family values and respect for others. Olivia has been an executive board member for the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, Aboriginal Legal Services, Southern Aboriginal Corporation, The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance.

Mary Gimondo

Secretary

Mary Gimondo writes grant applications and acquittals and liaises with funding and sponsor bodies and has more than 30 years experience in this field. She is a past secretary of the CBCA WA, has a background as a children’s librarian and has worked for the Education Department and in Public Libraries. Mary has also worked in special and law libraries and currently works at the Australian Tax Office as a business analyst. In 2008 Mary was awarded the CBCA WA Muriel Barwell Award for Distinguished services to children’s literature. Mary is also involved with committees within the community.

Lefki Kailis

Minute Secretary

Lefki Kailis has a professional background as a librarian, English teacher and Teacher-librarian. Her professional practice has always focused on social justice, respect for the natural environment, and philosophy. She has been the National President of the Children’s Book Council of Australia and National Judge of the CBCA Book Awards.

Lefki has worked with a team headed by Whadjuk Noongar Elder and leader Kerry-Anne Winmar and including James Webb, Honey Webb and Dulcie Donaldson to produce a short documentary titled Aboriginal Habitation along the Derbal Yerrigan pre European settlement. She has been intimately connected with the Wirlomin family since 2006.

Lefki Kailis
Ted Farmer

Ted Farmer

Committee Member

I am a proud Wirlomin man and the oldest son of Olivia Roberts and John Farmer.
I have lived and worked in the Great Southern Region for most of my life.
I finished my schooling in Albany, then entered employment with the City of Albany, the Western Australian Police Service and now working in the Mining sector.
I have very strong family connections with my immediate and extended families and I am wanting to grow as a future leader within my family and for my people.

Cass Lynch

Committee Member

Cass Lynch is a Koreng Wudjari Noongar woman, and is descended from the families of Ravensthorpe in the Great Southern region. She is a writer and researcher, and has recently completed a PhD in Creative Writing that explores Noongar stories that reference climate change. She speaks and writes in the Noongar language, and is currently a Research Fellow at Curtin University where she works with Professor Kim Scott on the revitalisation of south coast Noongar songs and stories.

Cass Lynch

Connie Moses

Committee Member

Connie Francis Moses was born in Gnowangerup and remembers hearing Noongar language before hearing English. She descended from the Moses and Yorkshire families of the south coast of Western Australia and is a proud member of the Wirlomin group. Connie is a qualified primary school teacher, has a degree in Aboriginal Studies and is currently studying Aboriginal Community Management. She is passionate about revitalising Noongar language and teaching younger generations.

Connie Moses

Kim Scott

Committee Member

Kim Scott is an award-winning Noongar author who has worked extensively in Indigenous education and the arts.  Kim began writing for publication shortly after he became a secondary teacher of English.  His first novel, True Country, was published in 1993 and he has had poetry and short stories published in a range of anthologies.  Kim’s second novel, Benang, won the Western Australian Premiers Literary Award 1999, Australia’s premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2000 (Kim was the first Indigenous author to win this Award), and the RAKA Kate Challis Award, one of Australia’s most valuable and prestigious national awards for Indigenous creative artists, in 2001.  His 2010 novel, That Deadman Dance, won the South-east Asia and Pacific Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Miles Franklin Award, the Victorian Premier’s Prize, the NSW Christina Stead Prize and Book of the Year, the South Australian Premier’s Prize, the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal Winner among other accolades. In 2012 it was published in the Northern Hemisphere by Bloomsbury. Kim’s latest novel, Taboo, won the NSW Premier’s Award Book of the Year 2018, the NSW Premier’s Indigenous Writer’s Prize 2018, the University of Queensland Fiction Book Award 2018, and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing 2019. His work has been translated and published in China, India, Holland and France.

Kim has had a varied and illustrious career in teaching/lecturing including as a secondary school teacher, co-ordinator of the Indigenous Enabling Course and Aboriginal Bridging Course, a Lecturer in the Associate Degree in Contemporary Aboriginal Art (Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Curtin University) and has tutored in Creative Writing.  He was awarded a Centenary Medal, and was 2012 Western Australian of the Year. Kim is currently employed as Professor of Writing in the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts at Curtin University, and is a member of the Wirlomin Cultural Elders Reference Group.

 

Glenda Williams

Committee Member

I was born on the Gnowangerup Mission site and went to school in Gnowangerup. I moved to Albany and went to school locally. I am a Senior Health Worker with Great Southern Aboriginal Health and work in lower and central Great Southern when the need arises. The importance for me of being involved with Wirlomin is connecting with family, reconnecting with the old people from long ago, getting back on Country, knowing the history of our people and re-learning and speaking language.

 

Glenda Williams

Iris Woods

Committee Member

Iris Woods is currently an Aboriginal Health Worker with the Great Southern Aboriginal Health Service. Previously she was an Indigenous Liaison Officer with the WA Department of Education’s Peel District Office where she worked promoting Noongar language and cultural activities and translated many children’s songs into Noongar. She is also a teacher of Noongar language with extensive experience and language skills. In 1995 Iris won the Barry Hayward Outstanding Achievement Aboriginal Individual Award, and was nominated for the Premier’s Active Citizenship Awards, Australia Day 2009, for services to her community. Iris also was Coordinator for Noongar Language Teachers networking in Peel-Fremantle District Education.

Iris is a founding member of the Koolbardies Talking Women’s Friendship Circle where Aboriginal and non Aboriginal women work together to learn about cultural differences and support projects that increase the capacity of Aboriginal youth through the development of life skills. She was an adviser on the Board of Management of the Mandurah Youth Centre, a member of the City of Mandurah’s Aboriginal Advisory Group, and is a member of the Wirlomin Cultural Elders Reference Group. Across the board, Iris is an advocate for the stolen generations, redress and helping others. She is a regular guest speaker on history, language and culture at schools and within the community. Iris also served as the chief advisor for the Noongar children’s television program Waabiny Time on NITV.