The Year That Was

A note from the Executive Officer.

2022 was the biggest year yet for Shooting Stars. We launched new sites, engaged with a record number of participants, launched our first-ever branding campaign and even launched a book!

We could go on for another year about all of the highlights from this year, but we’ve selected some of the best to share. Above all else, however, is being able to watch the girls we interact with daily find their voice, being empowered and showing leadership in their community!

- Fran Haintz

We expanded... again

Shooting Stars has expanded in the last twelve months to empower 20 sites across Western and South Australia. Every site comes with its own challenges, but watching the girls embrace the program is always thrilling.

South Australia

2021 saw Shooting Stars pilot the program in three primary schools in Whyalla, South Australia – the first interstate expansion.

This year, after a successful first year, we expanded to include Year 7 to 9 students at Whyalla Secondary College. By expanding to include high school participants we were able to more than double the number of Aboriginal girls engaged in the program. It was exciting to see the continued growth and success of the program in re-engaging Aboriginal girls positively in the school environment.

Our participants are showing early signs of improvement in attendance and most significantly, with the support of Shooting Stars, they're showing greater levels of engagement with their learning.

Kiara College

The first official launch of the year for Shooting Stars was also the first expansion into the Perth metro area, with Kiara College welcoming us into their school. After the program's success within remote and regional communities, the expansion into the metro area allows us to continue to reach young Aboriginal girls in need of support throughout their education journey and test our model in a new context.

The Kiara College Principal, Grant Brown, spoke of the launch and noted the importance of a program like ours.

“We look forward to forging a strong and vital partnership that will support the growth and development of our Aboriginal girls. The obvious passion and vitality of the Shooting Stars team have already proven significant in engaging our girls. I am confident that this, combined with experienced staff, well-structured programs, a proven track record of success, and the use of student performance data to inform planning and structure, will ensure that our Aboriginal girls are in good hands and on a positive growth trajectory.”

Tom Price

In January, we were welcomed into the town of Tom Price, launching our 18^th site at Tom Price Senior High School. During the launch event, held at the Tom Price Performing Arts Centre, the girls unveiled their dress design for their team, the Tom Price Warlus. In describing the design they said:

"The warlu is because when you enter the areas of Tom Price, it has signs stating Warlu way on them. We also added waterholes, as beautiful waterholes surround the town. The dotted circles are a form of meeting or gathering; the animal prints are animals that may be found out bush or hunted for tucker which is why they added the boomerangs as hunting tools. The stars are in representation of the Shooting Stars girls."

The Tom Price site is proudly supporting students from years 7 to 9, and will grow to Years 7 to 12 in 2023.

Merredin

Adding to our South West sites, we were thrilled to launch the Shooting Stars program in Merredin in term 3. The program has started by empowering girls in years 7 to 12, with the vision to expand to include year 5 and 6 students soon. Expanding into these year groups will be critical, given the importance of having a supportive network in those transition years.

Sam Dawson, Deputy Principal: Student Services at Merredin College, was thrilled to see the implementation of the Shooting Stars program.

“To launch the Merredin Shooting Stars program with so much staff and community support was an indication of how fitting this initiative will be for Merredin College. This has been a long and sometimes difficult process to get off the ground. Thursday’s launch was a culmination of the teamwork and enthusiasm of all involved, from our year 7-12 students to our fantastic program coordinator. We look forward to growing the program and giving our young Aboriginal women the tools to become the strong, empowered women we know they can be.”

Morawa

Adding to our Mid West sites, our Morawa site was the final launch of 2022, coming on board in term 4. Amongst the special guests in attendance were Carolyn Lewis – a Yamatji Noongar woman who is an Aboriginal researcher at Curtin University – and Melissa Price MP, who officially opened the Shooting Stars room.

Eleanor Simpson, a Yamatji woman from Murchinson has joined the team as our Program Coordinator, having previously worked as an Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer (AIEO). At the launch event, she spoke of her introduction to the program, saying, “I started working with Shooting Stars as of this term. I really had no idea what it was going to be about or like - only what I thought I knew. But then when I started, I learnt heaps more.”

As part of the program, the girls chose the team's name and designed the dress that they’ll wear when representing their site at events and carnivals. The team’s name is Mo-Town magic, with the dress design representing wildflower country. The winner of the design competition, Patrice, described her design:

"The yellow represents the sun shining on country and giving life to the wildflowers. The blue, pink, purple, and red are the many wildflowers that grow across Yamatji Barna (country) making our (Barna) unique with its beauty. Us Morawa Nyarlus are unique in our beauty shining from different countries and language groups."

The Black Diamonds Report

The Black Diamonds project – the first of its kind – reviewed the netball service delivery within Western Australia to ensure the policies and systems are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people to the sport of netball.

The review, undertaken between February 2021 – 2022, was a joint initiative between Glass Jar Australia and Netball WA, and was formally released in May this year.

The report highlighted the importance of improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement and retention across all pathways, outlining the barriers to engagement and potential solutions that enable the sport to move forward positively.

The principal methodology used for the research was yarning circles, a traditional Aboriginal methodology. Research Manager for Glass Jar, Dr Rose Whitau, highlighted the importance of using yarning circles for this report.

“The strength of yarning with people with such diverse experiences from across the state is the breadth of solutions that were presented. The research clearly shows where the gaps are – and most importantly, how netball might fix the system.”

Click through to read the Black Diamonds Report in full.

Making an impact through art

Art with the Stars

For our Indigenous participants, being able to express themselves through art is an enriching and connecting experience.

Given the importance of art within Indigenous culture, Shooting Stars has implemented an “Art with the Stars” project, whereby we use arts-based research methods to evaluate the program, given that art-making is a fundamental part of Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing.

Local Aboriginal artists are invited and paid to work with participants, teaching them skills and developing artwork or performances together. This artwork or performance will then act as a tool to connect with themselves, their communities and their country.

This year, we were thrilled to engage with the below sites for Art with the Stars, thanks to funding from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

Collie: painting project with Bianca Hart

Carnarvon: basket weaving with Esma McMahon

Fitzroy Crossing: fashion project utilising painting, printmaking and natural dying processes with Earthed Foundation

Halls Creek: painting project with Kathy Long

Derby: a range of activities ranging from gallery visits to artist workshops

NAIDOC ball design

This year our very only Leonora Shooting Stars participant, Lakeisha, won the 2022 NAIDOC netball design competition. Lakeisha is a proud Wongutha/Yamatji artist from the Goldfields and participated in this year’s competition after having participated in the 2021 design competition. Her design incorporated many elements, including rainbow colours representing diversity, bush foods that sustain and nourish development, and the Aboriginal colours representing pride, strength and culture.

Lakeisha is an artist with a passion for Aboriginal art, and in her free time she enjoys sewing, painting and designing baby blankets and bags. The passion for art runs in the family, with Lakeisha telling us, “I got my skills from my grandma. She was really proud and surprised when she heard I had won the competition.”

The NAIDOC Carnival was held on July 6, with Lakeisha’s design being used by over 1,000 participants, herself included.

CWFC guernsey design

Ahead of the Indigenous round in the Women’s AFL league, the Claremont Women’s Football Club held a competition to design the guernsey that would be worn that round. Our very own Halls Creek participant, Skye, won the competition and watched the girls run out onto the field wearing her design.

Skye is a mad footy fan with dreams of playing herself one day, and was over the moon to have her design chosen by the club. In describing her artwork, Skye said, “My design represents women gathering at the start of the wet season after a few rains, this is when the desert flowers begin to bloom. Women gather on country to find water holes and know they can go looking for Kangaroo and find the bush tucker, like bush onions and witchetty grubs.”

Football Operations Manager at CWFC, Jodi Mills, spoke about how inspiring the guernsey is for the club and the players.

“We were thrilled to choose Skye’s jumper design for our National Reconciliation Week round. The elements about women coming together to learn and share resonate with our club and teams, and we loved the references to her country. When we visited Shooting Stars in Kununurra, Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing last year, we were excited to meet the participants and leaders and learn how the program supports young Indigenous girls, women, and communities in regional WA. We hope to continue the relationship and work with Shooting Stars. Together we can Be Brave and Make Change.”

Past board member's gift

Our success would not be what it is without the unwavering support we’ve had from our past and present board members. At our book launch for Kaya Kwopetok Koorlang Yok, we presented our past board members with a gift of appreciation for everything they have done for Shooting Stars throughout their tenure.

The gift was a beautiful ice-brick style art piece designed by one of our Shooting Stars participants, Kevi from Carnarvon. The design represents our values of Pride, Respect, and Success.

One of our highlights this year was the culmination of almost two years of work - our branding campaign!

The campaign started through a partnership with ourselves and UnLtd and quickly grew to include a team of fantastic media professionals that worked tirelessly to bring this campaign to life.

Check out our TVC below featuring some of our epic Shooting Stars participants!

Kaya Kwopetok Koorlang Yok: Dear Beautiful Young Woman

Finally, a wrap-up of this year would not be complete without talking about our pride and joy – a labour of love that has taken over two years to come together.

Kaya Kwopetok Koorlang Yok: Dear Beautiful Young Woman is a collection of 28 incredible stories from women in our community who share what success means to them. The journey to create this book started in 2020, the year the pandemic hit.

Every year we undertake yarning with our participants, staff and communities. With the restrictions that COVID brought with it, it was impossible to hold large yarning circles, so we pivoted and held one-on-one yarns with women close to Shooting Stars.

The stories that came out of this process were raw and spoke to how success can look, so we compiled them into a beautiful book for all to enjoy. Three Aboriginal artists from three generations of the same family – Rose, Jilalga and Allyra Murray – beautifully illustrated the women’s stories.

The official launch was held on October 11 – International Day of the Girl – and we basked in the glow that our community brings when we gather together.

Click through to read more about the book and secure your copy today.