CLC DELEGATES – REGION 2
Southwest
Kathleen Luckey
“My husband, Mr Wongway, was a CLC delegate and I learned from him. We used to go to council meetings together.”
Ms Lucky chairs Imanpa’s local (government) authority and a director of the Iyanha kularta Aboriginal Corporation. She is a member of the CLC’s local community development working group and represents Imanpa at Angas Downs Indigenous Protected Area committee meetings and many other gatherings.
“Our issue here is housing. It needs to be upgraded. There are lots of people coming back to the community and it’s overcrowded.” She also works on CLC community development projects.
She is pleased with the 2024 Karinga Lakes native title determination. “I’m happy that we got our native title back. My husband really fought for that.”
Before retiring to Imanpa she worked in the Aputula (Finke) community’s school and store. “I am happy to be with family and friends. I want our community to grow and our young people to come on board.”
Abraham Paddy
Mr Paddy works with the MacDonnell Regional Council night patrol and the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council’s youth program and musters cattle for the Ngaanyatjarra Cattle Company. He is also coaching Imanpa’s football team.
“I look after all the young people. I take them travelling to other communities for sports events and football.”
He is following in the footsteps of his father, Tony Paddy, a former CLC delegate.
Rita Jingo
Ms Jingo is an artist who has worked as a Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park ranger and tour guide.
She is a member of the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation board and the CLC’s local community development working group, and a proxy member of the board of the national park.
Ms Jingo helps to run a cultural tourism experience at her homeland on the land trust surrounding the park that involves five generations of her family.
“I’ve got some people helping me with inma, dancing, so tourists and little ones can see and learn about tjukurpa and history.”
She wants to speak up “for outstations, for water, new roads, housing, new buildings and travelling for cultural business. Women’s law and culture. We need somewhere safe outside the national park to sit down”.
She wants to follow in the footsteps of her late father and long-term CLC delegate, Johnny Jingo, and her father–in–law, Lindsay Paddy.
“It’s in my heart to be strong and speak up for our land and for our kids.”
Leroy Lester
Mr Lester represents the southwest region on the CLC’s executive committee.
He is an Anangu engagement officer at the Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park and does casual work for the Australian Walking Company.
He has worked at Voyages in Yulara, where he won three Brolga Awards, the Alice Springs Desert Park and as a station hand on cattle stations in the Territory/South Australia cross-border region. His first job was to announce the Pitjantjatjara Country Music Show for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. He is a former board member of the Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation.
He likes meeting tourists, “giving them an experience with culture and local Western Desert mob, giving them an insight into medicine, bush tucker, and just changing peoples’ perspectives”.
Mr Lester follows in the footsteps of his late father Yami Lester, who played a big role in the handback of the rock to its Anangu owners in 1985.
“There were a lot of strong leaders back then. We had a lot of good helpers back then, friends and parliamentarians. We are always talking about following in that old man’s or old woman’s shoes at Muti. We need more voice and get involved.”
Wants to speak up for equal opportunity and community empowerment.
“Western Desert folk need more education, interpreters, strong leaders and more governance training to build up to the level of Arnhem Land mob.”
Jacob Yarma
Mr Yarma works for the Utju (Areyonga) clinic, driving patients to Alice Springs.
He has worked for the now defunct community councils and the MacDonnell Regional Council in Kaltukatjara (Docker River), Utju and Mutitjulu for 15 years, removing rubbish, fencing, grave digging and supplying firewood for the aged care. He has protected rock holes from camels with the CLC’s land management team and helped to build the camel yards near Tjunti.
“I’m the first person in my family to be a CLC delegate, and maybe all my kids will follow in my footsteps.
Our people need help and that’s why I got to speak up for my people, because we have bad roads and bad telephone service.
We used to fix potholes with gravel, but now we don’t get help from the shire. We need support from the shire to get work.
We need our white cards so we can do the work. Our young people need jobs. People want to work. I’m going to talk up for this on the council.”
Barnaby Kunia
Mr Kunia is a member of Kaltukatjara’s store corporation board and of the CLC’s local community development working group. “We’ve got a good community here.” He wants to see youngfellas clean and install water at the oval and “make a bike trail for the kids”.
He plans to speak up about stopping thirsty feral camels from wrecking taps and pipes, maybe by mustering them for sale.
He was previously employed by the MacDonnell Regional Council and local shop and would like a job installing water at outstations, keeping them clean and grading access roads.
Mr Kunia barracks for the West Coast Eagles and used to play for another Eagles team.
Norman Kulitja
Mr Kulitja was a CLC delegate in the early 2000s, “when Mr Bookie was the chair”.
The former store director and community council housing worker is now on a pension. “I used to put air cons on the roofs and the rubbish in the dump with the front-end loader.”
Mr Kulitja would like to spend more time at his homeland, Tjuninanta. “I want to live there forever. I will speak up for all our outstations, even those that are abandoned. The problem everywhere is kapi wiya (no water)”.
“When we have problems with the kids, we want them to live on the outstations, forget about all those [mobile] phones, sit calm, listen to the birds.”
Plans to advocate for water tanks in fenced yards “to keep the camels away. They are a real problem. They break into anything and break everything, water pipes, taps – real dangerous. We want the roads to be graded to get rid of the spinifex on the roads. We need solar because us mob we try to stay on our homeland, keep away from the community, sit on the outside quiet, nice and peaceful, get away from the humbug, but we need water”.
Proud of playing with the West Coast Eagles. “When I had a black beard we used to go to the sports weekends at Ernabella, Papunya, Warakurna, Warburton and Amata. We had the best team, always used to bring the trophy back home.”
Jennifer Breaden
Ms Breaden is Aboriginal liaison officer at the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress. She is a former teacher assistant at Lilla’s homeland school and worked as cleaner on the Ghan and at the King Canyon Resort as a housekeeper.
She is also a member of the CLC’s Watarrka community development working group.
“I am a delegate because of my dad [former CLC chair Bruce Breaden]. I have followed him since that day in 1976 when he was at the first council meeting.”
“I want people to get back to their homelands and build their own homeland. Some people have gone back to their homelands but some are still missing out. I am proud of my family tourism business at Wanmarra homeland.”
Gwen Gillen
Ms Gillen works for the Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group and paints at the Tangentyere Artists Gallery.
She is proud to follow in the footsteps of her late mum, Julie Clyne.
“I want to go back to country and clean up the houses. Get yards clean, houses repaired and get locked gates on the houses. Clean up the land. Grow more trees and for the kids. Speak up to government. We need water tanks cleaned out or replaced so people can drink clean water.”
David Doolan
Mr Doolan started as a station hand at 16 and spent many years working on stations. He is proud to have been elected as a delegate for Aputula (Finke) for the second time, having lived there most of his life.
“I have a strong voice here. Finke used to be a really busy when the railway station was here. I want to help bring it back up again and make it a good place to live. We’re getting new houses, which is good.
There are a lot of things I’m looking at doing as a delegate, like getting young people working. Our Aputula rangers now have a big new CLC office and yard to work from. As a traditional owner, I go out on country to teach the rangers. I want us all to work together and get more young people involved in ranger work.”