Pindari is always keen to be involved in initiatives, which provide opportunities for cultural exchange between Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members… initiatives that celebrate individuality, encourage respect and foster connection and support between members of the broader community.
Every year, NAIDOC week is celebrated throughout our operations to honour the history, knowledge, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Since 2019, Pindari has been a proud major sponsor of the South West Indigenous NAIDOC Basketball & Careers Expo event.
The expo is held in collaboration with South Regional TAFE, Bunbury Jobs & Skills Centre, the Stephen Michael Foundation, Waalitj Kaaditjin, and Busselton Senior High School to encourage students to attend school, teach them skills for getting a job, and provide informal career networking opportunities. An inter-school basketball carnival is featured at the careers expo, where the winning school receives a Basketball Shield as recognition.
In 2023 over 200 year 7 to 10 kids from ten high schools jumped in on the action. Margaret River Senior High School won the 2023 trophy.
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
Pindari collaborated with the City of Busselton and South West Aboriginal Medical Services to organise the City’s first public reconciliation walk event in 2022. The walk was led by Wadandi-Pibulmun elder Gloria Hill as part of a public expression of support for meaningful reconciliation among Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Pindari has since supported the walk in 2023 and will also do so in 2024 and Pindari’s local staff also participate.
Pindari is proud to support Jan Kane and her team with a ‘Dilly Bags’ program. This annual project provides homeless Indigenous people with toiletries, water bottles and Beanies to ease their hardship. This small gesture helps provides increased self-worth and pride to these individuals and in some small way, assists them towards a safer and more secure outcome. This year Derbarl Yerrigan reached out to Pindari for basic grooming kits (toiletries, lip balm, hair ties) for the Aboriginal girls of Armadale High school, which were gratefully received.
“Been there, left & returned to the place of many hills”
“Our organisation is looking to create a positive place of healing and development for the children of the mission and their families. Roelands Mission was home to over 500 stolen generation children. Today it is about creating an area where culture can be rediscovered and opportunities can begin to grow.” (Roelands Village)
Working Together Pindari Director David Pidek was nominated as a Roelands Village Academy Limited non-executive Director in 2020 and is actively supporting their business, training and employment development in the South West. It is his aim to work closely with Roelands to help them develop their own workforce through mentoring and contract opportunities in the South West.
Pindari and the Woolkabunning Kiaka Aboriginal Corporation (WKAC) have been working together since early 2020 and have formalised commercial, labour hire engagements in place to conduct inspections, reporting and minor repair work together on State owned assets in the South West..