Red Earth Looks Back On 2015

20151216 Red Earth AGM — Guest speakers and South Burnett Community Leadership program alumni Kirstie Schumacher, Narelle Black and Amy Wicks

December 18, 2015

Board members and friends of the Red Earth Community Foundation (RECF) met in Kingaroy on Wednesday night for the organisation’s AGM and to discuss its recent achievements.

Directors reported on the successful second year of the South Burnett Community Leadership Program (SBCLP) organised by RECF.

Three graduates from the 2015 course – Kirstie Schumacher, Narelle Black and Amy Wicks – spoke emotionally about the insights they had gained and how their lives and career paths had been changed.

Twenty-one participants in the SBCLP program gathered at the Bunya Mountains over two three-day sessions in a retreat-like environment under the direction of skilled facilitators.

Participants applied to take part and were selected by a panel of community representatives. Some self-funded the course, while others were sponsored or part-sponsored.

Red Earth director John Carey said an external evaluation of the results of the first two SBCLP courses (2014 and 2015) was now being be prepared.

The successful applicants for the 2016 course were announced at the AGM.

Also speaking at the AGM on the value of the leadership course were South Burnett CTC CEO Nina Temperton, a graduate of the original Queensland Building Rural Leaders course on which the SBCLP is based, and Kingaroy businessman Ken Mills who has sponsored the course and sent staff.

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The concept of the Foundation dates back to 2011 when Karen Seiler, from Wooroolin, came up with the idea.

She discussed it with fellow members of the Queensland Rural Women’s Network (now QRRRWN), including Durong grazier Georgie Somerset.

Small groups of South Burnett residents then met at the Tingoora Hotel and Captain’s Paddock Cellar Door to discuss the idea and hear from guest speakers from community foundations operating successfully in South Australia and NSW.

Groups represented at these formation meetings included the South Burnett Regional Council, Centacare South Burnett, South Burnett CTC, QRWN, Agforce, DEEDI, BIEDO, Tarong Energy (now Stanwell) and Centrelink.

QRWN’s Barambah Branch committed to donate $11,000 towards the project if a Foundation was established.

A working group of local residents was then formed to investigate the proposal and began meeting monthly.

Red Earth Community Foundation South Burnett was incorporated in January 2013 as a non-profit company, adopting the motto “Sowing seeds for the future”.