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Dr Newchurch joins national NAIDOC committee
Dr Jonathan Newchurch said he hopes to inspire the younger generation through his appointment to the national NAIDOC committee
by Stephen Hagan 29 September 2015
N
arungga Nation man Dr Jonathan Newchurch said he hopes to inspire the younger generation through his appointment to the national NAIDOC committee. “I’m keen to inspire the younger generation in some way to reach for their dreams,” Dr Jonathan told First Nations Telegraph after attending his first meeting of the national body in Darwin on Saturday. “Although I’m from the Narungga Nation from the Yorke Peninsula I was born and raised in Adelaide. “One of the motivators for me to stay in school was to achieve something great,” he said.
National NAIDOC Committee in Darwin: Anita-Lee Summers, Jessa Rogers, Dr Jonathan Newchurch, Patricia Conlon, Anne Martin, John Paul Janke, Bilawara Lee and Stephen Hagan (absent: Anne Weldon and Ben Mitchell).
Dr Jonathan was quick to point out that he was not given a dream run through life and handed his medical qualification on a silver platter. “I witnessed the destruction alcohol and drugs had on my family growing up in the ‘90s. “And my journey through high school and university was hard at times,” was the refreshingly honest assessment of the Roving Registrar to Aboriginal Health Services in South Australia to a question on his formal education path. “I persevered and am proud to say that I am the first person in my family to complete high school, then go to and finish university. “I am now a doctor working in an Aboriginal Medical Service, trying to help improve the health of
our people.” In addition to welcoming Dr Newchurch on board at the national NAIDOC committee meeting in Darwin, the committee also congratulated Pat Conlon, Brisbane, and John Paul Janke, Canberra, on their reappointment to fill the three vacant positions on the national body. Anne Martin and Ben Mitchell were re-elected unopposed to their positions of co-Chairs of NAIDOC. Other items on a full agenda for the committee was meeting with representatives of the local NAIDOC committee around protocols for the hosting of the national ball in Darwin next year as well as coming up with the theme for NAIDOC 2016, which will be announced in late November.
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