About

Lorena Allam
Radio Features Producer
I'm a features producer in the Social History Unit of ABC Radio National. My family hail from the Yuwalarai nation of north west New South Wales. I have been an ABC journalist and radio producer for almost 20 years, working across most areas of the ABC. I produced/presented 'Awaye!', Radio National's Indigenous arts and culture program, for ten years, and have worked in a range of other media positions, most notably as the Public Affairs Officer with the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.

Delia Bell
TV Program Assistant
My family has links to the Wiradjuri nation in central western New South Wales. I am a 'newbie' to the Indigenous Programs Unit (IPU) and the ABC. I consider it an honour to work for the ABC and a privilege to work for the IPU. Working as a Program Assistant I offer administrative support to the Message Stick team but love to go on location shoots wherever possible. I look forward to becoming a Program Maker in the future.

Paul Brant
Indigenous Employment Coordinator
I have been the Indigenous Employment Coordinator at the ABC for nearly six years. My people are from the Warudjuri and Ngunawal nations. I have worked in the employment services and recruitment field since 1984. The ABC is an incredible place to work and the calibre of Indigenous staff here is second to none. I proudly say I think we have the best Indigenous journalists, presenters, producers and camera crews in any media organisation in the country. It is important to realise that as a media organisation the ABC has a large range of behind the scenes roles, including the area I work in which covers People and Learning issues.

Daniel Browning
Radio Producer/Presenter
I am a Goori man from far northern New South Wales with family from all over including the Bundjalung, Yugambeh and Kullilli nations. I grew up in the shadow of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, in the lower Tweed Valley.
I joined the ABC as a News and Current Affairs Cadet in 1994. I produced and presented drivetime news bulletins on triple j from 1996 and until 2005 was News Director at the national youth broadcaster. I now work as the producer and presenter of Awaye!, the Indigenous arts and culture program on ABC Radio National.

Wayne Chee
Vision Control
I have Chinese ancestry and family ties on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. I've been with the ABC for 30 years in the same department and have worked on many and varied programs and events over that time. I love this place and hope to complete my full time working career here, it’s full of good people.

Emma Carroll
TV Production Coordinator
On my dad's side I have links to the the Yaraldi tribe from the Murray River region. They're considered part of the Ngarrindjeri nation. I'm currently working with a wonderful little group of book-loving folks on 'First Tuesday Book Club'. We produce televised reviews and panel discussion programs that investigate different genres in writing and reading. I’ve learned heaps since beginning on the show, being involved in studio recordings with celebrity guest authors, comedians and politicians, putting camera skills to use shooting interviews, writing newsletters, blurbs and articles for the website and helping with the book re-enactments, finding actors, props and costumes, creating sets and props, performing, gathering footage and even once filming underwater! We encourage reading as a way to learn and imagine.

Miriam Corowa
TV Presenter/Producer
I was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but call the Tweed Valley region on the far north coast of New South Wales home. My family heritage is Bundjalung, being a descendant of the Minjungbal clan, and South Sea Islander. I come to the role as Presenter for ABC Television’s Message Stick program after seven years working in the television industry – half of which has been spent in the production of Indigenous stories at both SBS and the ABC. Being a member of the Message Stick team is a badge of honour I wear with pride, enjoying the privilege of working in a unit wholly committed to giving expression to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices on a national platform.

Pearl Davern
Researcher
My name is Lee-Ann Pearl Davern but most people know me as Pearl. Born in Adelaide in 1970, I grew up on my mother’s country, Gomeroi country, north-west NSW and my father’s side where Tasmanian settlers of Irish descent. I come from a family of six children and went to school in a little town called Wee Waa. One of my first jobs was cotton chipping but in 1990 I decided to hit the big smoke. I studied at Eora College for Visual & Performing Arts, Redfern. By then I knew there was ‘no business like show business’. I went on to train with SBS/AFTRS and was involved with the national indigenous media association. I then went bush to help establish Aboriginal radio in Cunnamulla, south-west QLD. I have broadcast for Aboriginal radio in Brisbane & Sydney and over time have met and worked with some of the most inspirational people to walk the earth. I commenced as researcher for the IPU September 2008 a small but hardworking unit where I feel at home. As a team player I want to tell our most important stories to the world and seek justice for our people in a positive way.

Roanna Edwards
Radio Sports Broadcaster
My Indigenous heritage is Nyoongar from the south west of Western Australia. My radio heroes became colleagues back in December 2005 when I was welcomed into the Perth Grandstand department alongside Glenn Mitchell, Karen Tighe and the late great Wally Foreman on a two year Indigenous Broadcasting Traineeship. Somehow i'm still here! The shift to radio came after completing a newspaper cadetship in my hometown of Geraldton - I now vow never go back to print. My career highlight came in November 2007 when I was part of Grandstand's coverage of Australia's victorious World Netball Championship campaign in New Zealand.

Jeremy Geia
TV Producer
I am a Kuku Yimithirr and Kaurareg man from far north Queensland. My diverse claims to fame include being the President of the Aboriginal Supporters Branch of the Liverpool Football Club through to being possibly the only Aboriginal television journalist to be shot in a non-conflict zone.

Mary Hawke
Makeup Artist
I was born in Alice Springs. I did primary schooling in Alice and went to boarding school in South Australia. I returned to Alice Springs to do my apprenticeship in hairdressing and beauty. I have worked in hairdressing both in Australia and overseas for many years - 25 plus. I have been with the ABC for three years.

Majhid Heath
Producer-in-Training
I was born and raised in Newcastle but my ancestry is Gumbaynggirr and Dhunghutti with familial links to the Bundjalung and Yuin nations of NSW. Currently completing a BA in Communications (Media Arts and Production) at UTS, I am training as a producer in Multiplatform, looking after the ABC Indigenous Portal and producing ABC Indigenous content for the web. I am passionate about language maintenance and preservation, and I attend the Gumbaynggirr language courses offered by Muurrbay at the University of Sydney. The most exciting part of working for the Multiplatform team is that the web environment opens up a whole new way of telling our stories and sharing our cultures to the entire world.

Michael Holland
Journalist
My workmates know me as Dutchie. I grew up on a property east of Perth then moved to Balcatta and Swan View. I joined the ABC in 2000 working in Perth and then regional stations of Albany and Karratha before joining the ABC in Darwin where I am curently covering the court rounds/court reporting.

Lindy Kerin
Radio Current Affairs Journalist
I joined the ABC as a news and current affairs cadet in 1998. I did my cadetship in the Sydney newsroom and was then posted to Darwin. I worked in radio and television news and produced the Northern Territory Stateline program. Almost ten years later, I returned to Sydney to work with the national radio current affairs programs AM, PM and the World Today.

Charlie King
Sports Broadcaster
I am a Gurindji man whose mother is from Kalkarindji/Dagaragu. I am Territory born and have been involved in sport almost all of my life. My father was a professional bike rider who rode to Northern Territory in the 1920s as part of a promotion of Malvern Star bicycles. My family consists of over 100 family members residing in the NT. I present a weekend sports program for NT radio covering sporting events from all over the Territory. I have worked at ABC Darwin since 1994 and have travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Manchester and Melbourne with ABC Grandstand to cover the Commonwealth Games. I've covered most sports and have called over 500 games of footy as well as commentated on cricket, track and field, rugby league, rugby, hockey, boxing, netball and lawn bowls. I am an active community member and was recognised for the work I do by being named Darwin Citizen of the Year in 2002 and Indigenous Person of the Year in 2004.

Natasha Lawrence
TV Program Assistant
I was born in Queensland, was raised in New South Wales and now live in Sydney. I have family in Rockhampton and Woorabinda and links to the Bunjalung Tribes. I have been a Program Assistant for the Indigenous Program Unit for a few years now but have recently taken maternity leave and will be back in 2009.

Jonathan Love
TV Network Director
My mother's family are from Grafton. She was taken from her family when she was two years old. Her father's name was John Weinberg and my grandmother's maiden name was Mercy. My father is Scottish that is another story. His history goes back to Skye. My title is Network Director, I co-ordinate the on-air transmission of all programs, interstitials and voice-overs. I started at the ABC on 1 April 1990.

Maree McCarthy
Program Maker / Operational Specialist
I’m a born and bred Territorian from a beautiful part of the Territory called Balgul, three hours south-west of Darwin, right on the coast. It’s a place that is very important to all my family. I remember spending school holidays there and look back on it as some of the best times of my life. I created some great memories on the banks of the Daly River (better known to the locals as Nauiyu Nambiyu). I caught my biggest ever Barramundi there - 83 centimetres – and this memory has never left me. My mum and dad both worked there for many years before deciding to move to Darwin so I could further my education. Years later, at 19, I found myself on the doorstep of ABC Darwin, as an Indigenous Trainee Broadcaster for Local Radio. Six years on, you’ll still find me there, but now i'm a Program Maker/Operational Specialist in Radio Master Control. I have many roles, but primarily it's to deliver ABC’s radio networks (Local Radio, Radio National, Classic FM, triple j and Newsradio) to places far and wide across the Northern Territory.

Guy McLean
Journalist
I have been working in the media for more than a decade and have been with the ABC since 2004. I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I am a descendent of the Gidja people from the East Kimberley region. My primary focus with the ABC is sports reporting, compiling stories for radio, television and online. I began my journalistic career with the Swan Hill Guardian Newspaper, before working for WIN Television in regional Victoria and in Tasmania. I am also the Northern Territory's representative on the ABC's Indigenous employment committee, the Bonner Committee.

Susan Moylan-Coombs
TV Executive Producer
I was born in the Northern Territory, with Gurindji heritage from my father and due to past removal policies, today known as the Stolen Generations, unknown ancestry from my mother. In 2007, after a 14 year career with the ABC as a Producer/Director for groundbreaking programs such as 'BlackOut', 'Kam Yan' and 'Stompem Ground', as well as mainstream programs like 'Review', 'Qantum' and 'Play School', I was appointed the Executive Producer of the Indigenous Programs Unit. The media has a real power to create change. The stories that we tell have an honesty and integrity about who we are as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the value of community, culture and country. Television empowers us to tell it our way, to the nation.

Michael Park
Chief of Staff
I was born in Alice Springs where I did all of my schooling. I work as Cheif of Staff in the Darwin Newsroom. I have been with the ABC in Darwin since 2000. I have two wonderful kids, a boy and a girl.

Rhianna Patrick
Radio Presenter/Producer
My family has links to Erub and Mabiaug Islands in the Torres Strait. I moved to Sydney from Brisbane after joining the ABC as a news and current affairs cadet in 2002. In 2003 I worked in the ABC's Mackay newsroom in regional Queensland before heading back to Sydney in 2004 to take up the Breakfast newsreader position at triple j news. Towards the end of 2006 I moved to television to work as an Associate Producer/Researcher for the ABC's Indigenous Programs Unit which produces the Message Stick program. In March 2008 I moved back to radio to become the Presenter and Producer of the weekly national program, 'Speaking Out'.

Brendan Read
Camera Operator
I am from the Wiradjuri, Upper Bogan River nation in Central Western New South Wales. My people are also known as 'The Red Dust Mob'. I have been a camera operator for the ABC for 16 years. Some of the higlights of my career are filming the Dawn service at Gallipoli in 2000 and in the same year filming the opening and closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. Most recently I was involved in the The Apology to the Stolen Generations broadcast.

Grant Leigh Saunders
TV Producer
I am a Biripi man from the Manning Valley on the mid-north coast of NSW and have been working as a TV Producer at the Indigenous Programs Unit at the ABC since July 2007. Before the ABC I studied and worked as a sound designer and composer, with the soundtrack to my first feature length indie film, 'Burke and Wills' screening at Tribecca and Sydney film festivals in 2006. More recently I turned my hand to documentary filmmaking and graduated from the AFTRS in 2006. My second doco, 'B.L.A.C.K. An Aboriginal Song of Hip-Hop' is still travelling the festival circuit and won 'Best Achievement in Indigenous film' at the St Kilda Film Festival in 2007. As well as feeding my passion for filmmaking and TV is a love of making and performing music. I currently front a funk/rap/rock outfit called 'The Whitehouse'. I love working as a producer for Message Stick TV because I want to contribute to the positive re-representation of Aboriginal people in the media. I am honoured to have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of great Aboriginal film and TV makers.

Airlie Ward
TV Presenter / Reporter
I'm a born and bred Hobart girl. My father's side of the family have been here since year dot or thereabouts! My father is from the far south of Tasmania, his favourite spot was around Recherche Bay. Recherche Bay is where the French explorers, according to the records, had reasonably friendly encounters with the locals in the 18th century. I began at the ABC in Hobart in 2007 with a cadetship in radio news, then with bi-media, also television news. I've since reported for both as well as read and produced radio news, read television news and now present and report on Stateline in Tasmania.

Brett Whelan
Camera Operator
I am known to my workmates as Fridge and have worked at the ABC in Darwin since 2003 as a camera man. I am married with two great kids, both boys. I was born in Katherine and did most of his schooling in Darwin.

Kelly Williams
TV Production Coordinator
This is my 20th year working at the ABC in Queensland. I currently work for the Australian Story program on a part-time basis and have done so for the last six years. My role here is to support the Executive Producer and Production Manager in their day-to-day duties as well as assisting the producers who work on the program with any of their production needs. I am also the contact point for the general public and other ABC departments who wish to contact Austory. I manage the Austory office and support the Landline program with admininstrative and rostering matters.