First Nations Conferences to care for local community

The word Guniinii translates to queen bee in the language of the Gamilaraay traditional custodians.

The word carries additional meaning as the name representing the St Vincent de Paul Society’s newly formed First Nations Conference in Moree.

“The whole idea being that the queen bee looks after the whole community and it grows, provides,” says Phil Donnan, St Vincent de Paul Society North West Regional Director.

Conceived by a group of three First Nations women, working in coordination with the Society’s membership team, the Conference which aims to serve the needs of the community has since grown to eight members.

A naming and blessing ceremony for the Guniinii Conference was held at the St Pius X Chapel in March with members of the Conference coming from all three distinct parts of the First Nations community in Moree.

According to Phil Donnan, the success of the initiative is in combining the Society’s resources with people understanding the needs of where they live.

“Rather than us saying, ‘this is what we think you want’, it’s them saying ‘this is what we need’. We’re allowing them control of their own destiny using our resourcing and within our mission.”

“It’s incredible to see the energy and enthusiasm and we’re thrilled to be able to resource them to make a change in their community.”

The initiative to establish First Nations Conferences originated in Walgett after the previous Conference had been disbanded for a number of years.

After establishing relationships with the local community, an inaugural First Nations Conference was established in Walgett in late 2022, which has seen people reach out for assistance for the first time due to the connection of the conference to the community.

By establishing First Nations Conferences, the Society aims to increase cultural knowledge across the wider membership base as a whole.

“One of the issues for us is to be culturally appropriate with First Nations people. We’ll be engaging with these Conferences to train and educate our existing members on being more appropriate and relatable, so there will be better engagement at all levels of the organisation.”

The establishment of First Nations Conferences is one of the actions the Society has taken as part of the current Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with First Nations people.

Plans are underway for the Guniinii Conference to complement the existing St Therese Conference by establishing a drop-in centre and offering financial aid programs such as EAPA and NILS in Moree, while members in Walgett are engaging with local elders to formally name their Conference.

The Society is currently developing a new Reconciliation Action Plan that will be unveiled in the coming months.