{"id":18444,"date":"2012-12-03T22:13:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T12:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=18444"},"modified":"2023-12-21T14:38:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T04:38:06","slug":"students-celebrate-year-12-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
2012 South Burnett indigenous graduates: Front row, Bella Watcho (Murgon SHS), Tannay Sullivan (Murgon SHS) and Miranda McAleer (Kingaroy SHS);\u00a0Back row, Peter Grice (Nanango SHS), Brodie Grattidge (Kingaroy SHS), Jacinta Bligh (Murgon SHS), and Alex Usher (Kingaroy SHS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Year 12 graduate Miranda McAleer with guest speaker former Titans halfback Preston Campbell\u00a0(Photo: Marcus Priaulx)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 3, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Family and friends of indigenous Year 12 graduates from across the South Burnett gathered at Murgon Town Hall on Thursday night to congratulate school-leavers and hand out awards.<\/p>\n

They enjoyed dinner, music and speeches, including a short talk by guest speaker Preston Campbell.<\/p>\n

The former Titans rugby league star, who played 14 seasons in the NRL, also presented certificates to the graduates enrolled in the Titans’ “Beyond Tomorow” program. \u00a0This is a traineeship and mentoring program for school-leavers.<\/p>\n

The Year 12s were also joined by Year 10 and 11 students who received\u00a0Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF) scholarships to assist in their last years at high school.<\/p>\n

These scholarships were presented by Aboriginal Elder Ruth Hegarty.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/center>Aunty Ruth is a woman to be reckoned with …
\n<\/strong>
\nThe much-respected Aboriginal elder is a published author, has lectured at university and in the meantime raised eight children.\u00a0\u00a0She now has 102 grandchildren, \u00a0great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren…<\/p>\n

She’s a survivor of the harsh Cherbourg dormitory system and led the fight for the return of stolen Aboriginal wages.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night she presented a dozen students from across the South Burnett with 2013 QATSIF scholarships.<\/p>\n

These scholarships are paid from interest earned from the infamous Aborigines\u2019 Welfare Fund which took money from Aboriginal workers’ wages.<\/p>\n

“It makes me proud … that part of my money that I had taken off me is helping our children into the future,” she said.<\/p>\n

Aunty Ruth told the students that they could do anything they wanted to do.<\/p>\n

“You have the opportunities which did not come to us,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The struggle for equal rights comes with education. Education brings power.<\/p>\n

“Senator Aden Ridgeway said we were on a journey of catch-up. I believe we have just about caught up but it’s up to you guys to go the rest of the way.”<\/p>\n

Aunty Ruth, who is 83, said she wanted to live long enough to see Aboriginal kids as doctors and in other professional positions.<\/p>\n

“The unfinished business of stolen wages is tragic but it is a legacy that had been handed to you through QATSIF. It is your legacy,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Knowledge is power. Don’t ever forget that!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Elder Aunty Ruth Hegarty with 2013\u00a0Queensland Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF) scholarship awardees; the foundation distributes scholarships from interest earned from the now infamous Aborigines\u2019 Welfare Fund which took money from Aboriginal workers’ wages\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Moira Bligh with Elder and respected author Aunty Ruth Hegarty<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cherbourg Elder Aunty Ada Simpson and Irene White<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
John and Grace Stanley, from Murgon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cherbourg Mayor Ken Bone & his wife Marlene<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Henry and Valerie Mathews and Aunty Betty Bond with \u00a0Year 11 students from St Mary’s Catholic College: Shania Stewart,\u00a0Sarah-Jayde Eggmolesse and\u00a0Glinn Boney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sandy Walker and Kingaroy State High School Year 11 student Carl Fewquandie<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rory Boney, Dameka Jacobs, 9, and Antonia Jacobs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Surrounded by proud Elders, Year 12 graduate Bella Watcho cuts the graduation cake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The junior Wakka Wakka dancers kicked off the evening’s celebrations: Front row, Jeffrey Clevens and Greg Duncan; Middle row, Alex Georgetown and Ishy Bond; Back row, Eric Albury, Thomas Albury and Eddie Aubrey\u00a0(Photo: Marcus Priaulx)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family and friends of indigenous Year 12 graduates from across the South Burnett gathered at Murgon Town Hall on Thursday night to congratulate school-leavers and hand out awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":18463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1135,28,35],"yoast_head":"\nStudents Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Family and friends of indigenous Year 12 graduates from across the South Burnett gathered at Murgon Town Hall on Thursday night to congratulate school-leavers and hand out awards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-03T12:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-21T04:38:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/20121203dinner1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/\",\"name\":\"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-03T12:13:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-21T04:38:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/\",\"name\":\"southburnett.com.au\",\"description\":\"Kingaroy and South Burnett News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae\",\"name\":\"Anne Miller\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/author\/anne-miller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au","og_description":"Family and friends of indigenous Year 12 graduates from across the South Burnett gathered at Murgon Town Hall on Thursday night to congratulate school-leavers and hand out awards.","og_url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/","og_site_name":"southburnett.com.au","article_published_time":"2012-12-03T12:13:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-21T04:38:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"620","height":"385","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/20121203dinner1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anne Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anne Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/","name":"Students Celebrate Year 12 Success - southburnett.com.au","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-03T12:13:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-21T04:38:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/12\/03\/students-celebrate-year-12-success\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#website","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/","name":"southburnett.com.au","description":"Kingaroy and South Burnett News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/#\/schema\/person\/d43a5027bdddc95f54e9c6274d8a57ae","name":"Anne Miller","url":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/author\/anne-miller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18444"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292331,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18444\/revisions\/292331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}