* CSU Bathurst presented nine 2018 Charles Sturt University NAIDOC Awards * The National NAIDOC theme this year is Because Of Her We Can * Today we celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and the active and significant roles they play across the Bathurst region Charles Sturt University (CSU) is proud to recognise women as part of the National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week. The theme this year is Because of Her We Can.Acting Head of Campus at CSU in Bathurst Mr Peter Fraser said, “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have kept the oldest continuing culture on the planet strong, and the women have been strong partners with their men in maintaining this cultural connection through generations”.Nine women from the Bathurst region were presented with CSU NAIDOC week awards at a ceremony on campus today. Past and present CSU staff and students and community members attended the presentation.Wiradyuri Elder and former CSU staff member Werribee Leanna Carr-Smith works tirelessly as a community advocate and educator. Werribee is an outstanding leader and has been responsible for embedding Wiradyuri content and wisdom into the local education sector, including language programs and cultural orientation immersions.Dindima Gloria Rogers or ‘Aunty Gloria’, has been involved in the education and teaching of Wiradyuri culture and language. She also regularly conducts Welcome to Country in the Bathurst Wiradyuri area. She has been involved with CSU and the wider Bathurst community in a cultural advisory capacity for many years, giving her time and insight to many projects and initiatives.Aunty Jill(Gunhimudha which means ‘mother to many’) is a local Elder who has fostered many, many children, not just Aboriginal children, over the last 20 plus years.Aunty Jill has worked for her community behind the scenes for over 30 years in this area.  She holds Traditional Knowledge of Wiradyuri Country and is an accepted Wiradyuri Elder.  Aunty Jill has been one of the Elders keeping Councils and other community leaders accountable to their community and is a fierce community advocate.Tracey Gale is a proud Wiradjuri woman who, through her personal values and strong work ethic, has made a positive impact in the local community. During her previous employment at CSU Tracey travelled the country gathering and collating research into businesses run by local Indigenous people and through this role gathered information in order to apply this knowledge at a local community level.  Tracey is a wealth of knowledge on how successful businesses are run and imparts this knowledge to local businesses to ensure future success.Mrs Wyn Allen played   an instrumental role in setting up Wammarra in the early 1980’s when CSU was called Mitchell College of Advanced Education. She was the head of Wammarra for four years. She then moved to Canberra as a member of the House of Representatives Committee On Aboriginal Affairs. Later, she returned to Bathurst to work with the NSW Department of Fair Trading.  Mrs Allen has now retired and teaches Wiradyuri language at CSU.Ms Maureen Bates-McKay is a lawyer with legal aid and has demonstrated outstanding leadership in increasing access to justice in the Central West. Maureen works passionately for social justice and the community.Ms Annette Gainsford has demonstrated outstanding leadership through the development of CSU Bachelor of Laws. The course is internationally unique in building the Indigenous cultural competence of its graduates.Ms Gainsford led the development of Indigenous cultural competence of her colleagues within the CSU Centre for Law and Justice and contributed nationally to scholarships that recognise the place of Indigenous knowledge, cultures and histories within higher education.Ms Julie Bennett has been nominated by her CSU students for showing them tremendous support. She is a mentor and an advocate who is always there for her students. They say, “Because of her, we can”.Ms Jayarna Kay, a CSU student support officer at Wammarra Student Centre at CSU in Bathurst,was nominated via a specially produced video. The video said Ms Kay is a strong, confident and independent Aboriginal woman and is always empowering all females in all parts of her life, from work to her captaincy of the Orange Women’s Tigers AFL team.Last year Jayarma was instrumental in developing CSU’s first Indigenous student conference in Dubbo, which included several workshops on leadership, which helped Indigenous students to excel in their studies and took on feedback to improve services for Indigenous students across CSU. The video nomination was also shown during the ceremony.“Today we have celebrated just a few of the women who contribute, that work in a variety of ways, and are influencing and shaping our community,” Mr Fraser said.“We also acknowledge that there are many, many more local women that should be recognised, in addition to those whose stories we shared today.”“Charles Sturt University is so proud to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students and community members.“It was delightful and an honour to be able to acknowledge and present awards to all these fabulous women who are making an impact across our communities.”Today’s event started with a smoking ceremony and also featured a talented local Aboriginal youth dance troupe.