The date was 26 January 1938, and while many Australians celebrated the 150th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet, a group of over 1000 Aboriginal people gathered together at Sydney’s Australia Hall. They were calling for full citizenship status and new laws to improve the lives of First Nations people.
Not only was this one of the first meaningful civil rights gatherings in the world; the day, which became known as the Day of Mourning, grew into what is now known as National NAIDOC Week, a week where we come together to commemorate that first Day of Mourning, and to celebrate the history, culture and excellence of First Nations People.
To mark NAIDOC Week, we sat down with LiveBetter’s Katie Primmer, a proud Wiradjuri woman, to learn more about her experience as an indigenous Australian, what NAIDOC means to her, and her hopes for the future – both for herself and the wider First Nations community.
Background
Katie grew up on a property near Dubbo in Western NSW. A self-described ‘outside kid’, she spent her early years roaming the paddocks and exploring the surrounding bushland.
From a young age, Katie knew she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, and in Year 12, she travelled to Tanzania as a volunteer.
“I flew to a regional city in Tanzania called Morogoro and was there for two weeks working in the Midwifery ward and the Intensive Paediatric care ward. I loved every minute of it. It was all so different. Sometimes it was confronting, but it was the most incredible experience.”
The experience served to reinforce Katie’s passion for helping others, particularly those who are marginalised, and when she finished school, she studied to become an enrolled nurse.
Although Katie enjoyed her nursing studies, after completing them, she chose a different path, accepting a role as an NDIS Local Area Coordinator (LAC) when the scheme first launched in Western NSW in 2017.
“I became a specialist in building support plans for people living with disability, advocating for them, and working to ensure they received the funding they needed.”
In 2019, Katie moved to the Mid-North Coast, and in 2023 she enrolled in a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy at Southern Cross University.
For Katie, being an Occupational Therapist (OT) is her dream job, and one day she hopes to develop a fly-in, fly-out model of care that brings allied health professionals to regional, remote, and very remote communities.
“There is such a large gap in accessible services in those communities…and I want to promote more of us [Aboriginal Australians] becoming allied health professionals, because currently, less than 1% of allied health professionals in Australia identify as indigenous.”
Katie is committed to her studies and determined to do well.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve been a good student. I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to do well, and to stay focused. In my first year, I was getting distinctions, and I’m hoping that this year will be the same.”
On NAIDOC Week
“I’m a proud Wiradjuri woman. I see NAIDOC Week as a place marker. It’s a moment in time that can be used to measure success and to celebrate those successes – the things that have changed for the better since last NAIDOC Week.”
Katie says that growing up as an Indigenous Australian was not without its challenges.
“I remember when I was very young, I would be on the school bus, and people would call me names. I didn’t know what they meant, but it was upsetting. Eventually, I asked my parents what it meant.
“It was my first experience of racism, and it really affected me…to the point where if people asked if I was Aboriginal, I would get scared and say no.”
It took Katie a long time to learn to be proud of her Aboriginal heritage and to realise that the opinions of others don’t matter.
“Today, I feel sad for them. They’re so closed-minded – and there’s such a massive, beautiful community out there that they’re missing out on.
“I guess these experiences taught me that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation. I think that we do need to acknowledge our differences and celebrate commonalities. And we need to think about how society treats our most vulnerable members and strive to do better.”
On LiveBetter
Today, while completing her degree, Katie works part-time as a disability support worker at LiveBetter.
“I enjoyed working as an LAC, but I’d been in that role since the NDIS first rolled out, and it was time for a change. Now I‘m supporting three lovely ladies, two of whom are indigenous. I support them in their homes, helping them to become more independent.”
Katie is keen to gain more experience on the front line and believes the insight she has gained working directly with the very people she wants to help and support in the future will prove invaluable to her.
“I worked on the funding side of things for years, and I have a deep understanding of disability. But I knew there was a gap in my knowledge… I wanted the experience of working directly with people, not sitting behind a computer.
“I find this work incredibly meaningful. Spending time with my clients, watching them learn and grow, and become independent. Every single day is different in this job. I love it!”
Quick questions:
- What is the best thing about your work?
“The people I support.”
What is the most challenging thing about your work?
“The limitations in the types of support we can provide. Sometimes I feel that the reasonable and necessary requirements of the NDIS can be subjective, and this places limits on the experiences available to some NDIS participants. That’s a big challenge for me.”
- Top tip to manage work-life balance?
“Don’t bring work home. Once you leave work, leave work there.
“And always take time to recharge and look after yourself first, because you can’t support others if you don’t support yourself first.”
- What keeps you going, getting up and doing it all again, each day?
“The clients – the people I support.”
- Hopes for in the future? Where do you see yourself in five years?
“Living it up in my dream job. In five years I’ll have graduated and will be an Occupational Therapist.”
- If there was one piece of advice you could give to others who are starting in the community sector, what would it be?
“Do it because you want to help others. We need more compassionate people in this sector because we’re supporting the most vulnerable people in our communities. It’s important that we have the right people in the job.”
