Yuendumu News

Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May until 3 June every year. These dates commemorate the 27 May 1967 referendum and the 3 June 1992 High Court Mabo decision. Reconciliation Week 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.

 To commemorate this Reconciliation Week, after four years after it came out, here is the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ as spoken by Pat Anderson, Stan Grant, Adam Goodes, Ursula Yovich and Troy Cassar-Daley, with music by Midnight Oil.

The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) in Yuendumu designed and made bookshelves as part of the Drought Relief funding. The bookshelves are to be sent to other CDRC communities where they will be decorated and put into the Council offices as a small library.

Yuelamu have received theirs and the Yuelamu CDP have already decorated it. Expect to see the new library in the Yuelamu office soon.

Photo: The decorated bookshelf for the Yuelamu small library.

Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) participants in Yuendumu have been working on the Tanami Road Upgrade Project.

Both Eugene Penhall and Francis Penhall have been working with Exact Contracting since mid-February as all round machinery operators. Both have contributed to the Tanami Road Upgrade Project with their skills on the rollers, skid steer loaders, and IT loaders.

Trees have been planted at the Yuendumu oval as part of a Local Authority (LA) project. The work was completed by the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) crew in Yuendumu. 

After getting clearance from ‘Dial Before You Dig’ ten trees have been planted around the football oval. Aaron Singleton and Ansalem Wilson, both jobseekers in Yuendumu with CDP, helped to plant and water the trees in, with the help of Cliffy Egan, the Client Services Officer and Vaughn Hampton, Activity Supervisor at CDP in Yuendumu.

To water the trees they used one of the 2000 litre water trailers that the Yuendumu LA purchased last year.

 The April 2021 edition of the Central Desert News is out now! You can view it by opening the attachment below.

In this edition:

- Nyirripi Childcare centre reopens

- It's raining training at CDRC!

- A lot of actual rain

- Imparja Cup

- 2020/21 Year planner

• and much more!

Community Development Program (CDP) participants across all the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) sites have been reengaging with the program after the Christmas break and the men's business season.

In Yuendumu they have been making tree guards for trees purchased under the Drought Relief funding.

Photo above: Left to right: Ziggy Brown, Andrew Brumby, and Eli Egan making tree guards for trees purchased under the Drought Relief funding.

These are the premier Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) awards, now in their third running. The value of the awards has been increased as the standard has increased. The awards were formally acknowledged at the last All Staff meeting in March, where winners received a certificate, $200 voucher and a mug commemorating the value the winner is demonstrating.

Congratulations to all the winners, well done on demonstrating the values and your strong contribution to Council.

Yuendumu now has a dedicated recycling shed, with bays for seven different recycling categories.

The shed was designed and constructed by an Alice Springs business using local employees, to cater for the community’s needs and to assist with increasing recycling.

It also focusses on diverting waste from landfill, which is a National, Northern Territory and Local Government initiative. The aim is to increase the average resource recovery rate from all waste streams in Australia to 80% by 2030 (National Waste Policy Action Plan 2019).

On 12 March Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) works crew members participated in traffic control training, which they will use for their everyday road maintenance activities such as road grading, pothole patching, signage installation, etc.

The participants were Cyril Kunoth, Albert Wilson, Geoffrey Wilson and Colin French from Yuendumu and Alan Davis from Anmatjere.

The training was sponsored by Boral Asphalt and was delivered by Civil Train in Alice Springs.

Every March 8^th is International Women’s Day. Today we are celebrating with an interview with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC), Diane Hood.

What challenges have you faced in your career as a woman? How did you overcome them?

The inherent challenges to women in our society are sexism and unconscious bias against them. It is assumed that women should act in a certain way; nurturing and caring, but at the same time when in a leadership role they are expected to be logical and decisive, which are traditionally seen as male traits. When a female executive doesn’t act the way they are expected to it is hard for them to be seen as an individual with individual strengths and weaknesses.