Our Story
history
Weenthunga (meaning ‘hear/understand’ in Woi wurrung) grew out of a First Nations community need for health equity. Inspired by the work of National Indigenous Health Associations, Weenthunga’s contribution to progress this need was to convene a network which connected First Nations health professionals and Settler Australian health professionals who were demonstrating allyship in the space. In 2010, following yarns with local Elders and community consultations, Weenthunga was established under the leadership of Kelli McIntosh, a proud Muruwari and Kooma woman, and the backing of Lin Oke. Kelli and Lin,both Occupational Therapists, formed Weenthunga’s first two-way team, with Kelli as President and Lin as Public Officer and Secretary. Two-way teams are an integral component of how we do business today.
In 2012, Aunty Steff Armstrong, a proud Gamilaraay and Bigambul woman, joined Weenthunga, forming a new two-way leadership team with Lin. Aunty Steff had an extensive background in education and established our Girls Resilience Program (now Nyarrn-gakgo mangkie spaces). Now at Weenthunga, we centre First Nations young women and women across all of our work. Aunty Steff also embedded the 4Rs at Weenthunga: Relationships, Reciprocity, Responsibility, and Respect, which guide us in everything we do.
Weenthunga’s history is extensive and we are working towards telling this story. There are many moments we wish to share. Country and people have held spaces we’ve created. Within these spaces, knowledge and stories have been shared and passed on. People come to these spaces with a lifetime of memories, experiences and connections. Because of relationships, each space has grown. Because of obligation, each space and its impact continue.
vision
WEENTHUNGA’S 4R’S
Relationships, Reciprocity, Responsibility & Respect
our values
Our work is guided by our values of the 4Rs + Resistance.
Relationships: Genuine and lasting connections with, and interconnections between, people, communities and Country. We gift ourselves and each other space to honour, nurture, and deepen our relationships.
Reciprocity: A balanced, cyclical exchange shared between the act of giving and the act of receiving, by people, communities and Country. Enacted in our work, relationships, and the roles we hold – teacher/learner, speaker/listener, thinker/doer, and so on – in reciprocity, we continue to show-up.
Responsibility: In acknowledging our obligations to people, communities and Country, we hold ourselves and each other accountable for our words, actions and inactions. We have a collective responsibility to backing health sovereignty and progressing health justice for First Nations people in so-called Victoria.
Respect: Listening to people, communities and Country with the intent to understand, and thoughtfully responding when appropriate. We move through spaces purposefully and with cultural humility, centring our intentions to respectfully be and grow, individually and together.
Resistance: As First Nations people, we stand strong in our ways of knowing, being, doing, continuing the legacy and fight of generations before us. Working two-way, we protest and act against ongoing assimilationist agendas, disrupting oppressive systems, structures, and minds.
governance
Weenthunga is First Nations-led.
Our Committee of Management and Membership comprises First Nations Peoples only.
Weenthunga's Committee of Management is elected by and from Full Members of the Association.
- Full Members are First Nations people qualified for, or working in, a health or related role in Victoria.
- Associate Members - Individual are First Nations people living or working in Victoria who share a commitment to the purposes of the Association.
- Associate Members - Health Student are First Nations people living or studying in Victoria enrolled in a health course who share a commitment to the purposes of the Association.
MEET OUR PRESIDENT
Occupational Therapist
