Wayne Miller, CEO of Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation, opens up about his award-winning advocacy work to tackle the town’s housing crisis and keep Aboriginal culture alive.
A voice for the voiceless
Wayne, a proud Wirangu man, says his role as CEO of Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation (CAC) is “pretty demanding and hands-on”. “But ultimately, it’s a very rewarding role because quite often, we’re doing things for the betterment of community,” Wayne says.
Wayne’s tireless advocacy for Aboriginal people on SA’s far west coast was honoured this year when he was named a joint winner of the 2024 Premier’s NAIDOC Award. He dedicates his award to “all the South Australians doing the work for many years that haven’t been recognised – this one’s for them”.
Proud to be South Australian
Wayne takes immense pride in his South Australian roots: “I’m very proud South Australia’s got a Voice to Parliament. South Australia has always been a frontrunner in terms of social change. For instance, South Australia was the first state to fly the Aboriginal flag.”
“I’m a very proud South Australian – I’m proud that I live in a state that’s progressive and leading the way,” he says.
“When we talk about women’s rights, women’s voting, and recognising Indigenous people, South Australia has always been there first. If we continue to champion this as South Australians, we’ll continue to improve the lives of all Australians through being role models.”
Preserving culture through art and language
The CAC is overseeing the construction of a $6 million art centre precinct on Ceduna’s foreshore, with stage one already underway. “It will completely transform the sales spaces for artists and tourism, which will promote both Aboriginal culture and indigenous entrepreneurship,” he says.
The project supports more than 150 artists associated with Arts Ceduna across the region. Equally important is the Far West Languages Centre, co-located in the current Arts Ceduna space. “Language is very, very important for the community,” Wayne says. “Because fluent language speakers are mostly in the elder demographic, it’s quite important that it’s captured now. Because once language is lost, it’s very hard or impossible to bring back.”
Want more? Here are five places in South Australia you can learn about First Nations Culture.
Sport as a vehicle for reconciliation
As co-coach of the Ceduna district’s A-grade Koonibba Football Club team, Wayne understands the power of sport in bringing communities together. “Footy and sport just play a vital role in the community creating opportunities to champion reconciliation. Some of the only positive interactions with non-Aboriginal people are through things like arts and sports so it’s an incredibly powerful vehicle,” he says.
Founded in 1906, Koonibba is the oldest surviving Aboriginal football club in Australia – but one with a very progressive approach. “We’ve been at the forefront of promoting women’s footy in our remote areas. There’s more and more young girls playing footy now in our teams every week.”
Wayne says it’s been a tough slog for the club to keep the lights on during recent years. “Like most sports clubs during the cost of living crisis and the increasing cost of utilities, it’s been incredibly hard, but the committee’s worked tirelessly to keep this club open.”
“The sports club itself, the Aboriginal Sports Complex, is not just home to the footy club, it’s the centre of the Indigenous community. It plays a social role. It’s where all of the birthdays and the funerals and these things happen. It’s one of the only places in the community that they completely own.”
Tackling the housing crisis
Wayne is an outspoken advocate to prevent Aboriginal people from homelessness and says Ceduna’s Indigenous population has an urgent housing crisis. “The reality is that like most regional areas, there are not enough houses for the people that live in the town and that’s causing people to live in extremely unsafe conditions and become homeless,” he says.
Wayne believes a relatively small investment could make a significant difference: “About 10-15 new public homes would solve the problem, which is not a huge investment.” he says. “We’re still actively progressing and championing for the Ceduna housing problem to be resolved. The state government is opening up the dialogue, they’re having the conversations. I think this won’t just be a state-based investment, it’ll take the state and federal governments to come together to find a solution.”
Education: The key to long-term change
“What we’re really focused on, and what we want to improve in the long-term, is education for Aboriginal Australians,” Wayne says. “Across the country the education system is failing all Australians, but particularly it’s not working for our mob. We need to look at a system that is compatible with our community.”
“We run a school attendance program where we advocate to get school kids to school. We got one kid to school for the first time in two years and the first thing one of the school teachers asked was where his uniform was. Those are the kind of challenges we’re facing.”
“We all have to do better. We’re trying to do our part to get the best out of our mob. But also we need to make sure the school system’s compatible to bring us along for the journey.”
He sees education as the foundation for broader societal change: “If we fix education, then we fix employment, by default, and if employment’s fixed, then we start to fix poverty. And if we fix poverty, then we start to open up the opportunities for people and give them better health outcomes.”
Striving for parity
Wayne says constantly questioning the status quo is what all South Australians can do to ultimately achieve true equality for Indigenous Australians.
“Sometimes during our everyday living, we lose sight of what’s considered good social norms. So an example is that I live in a community where we have 25 per cent Indigenous population. But all of my colleagues that come here ask where the black fellas are working, and I didn’t think about that, but when you get off the plane, you don’t see a black face working at the airport, you don’t see a black face working at coffee shops, you don’t see a black face working in the town shops. And if you start to question this, then you start to realise that we do have a problem.”
“If we wanted to truly be a country that is equal, then one in four of the jobs in my community should be going to an Aboriginal person. Once we’ve achieved that we’ve achieved parity and equity.”
“So let’s look a bit deeper into everything that’s going on. And let’s look at injustices and call them out, even if they’re unconscious injustices or biases.”
Find out more about NAIDOC Week here.
