Rising stars shine in Darwin

Rising stars shone in Darwin recently when 1st Brigade soldiers helped young Indigenous women gain confidence.

CAPTION: Signaller Catherine Welsh, right, from the 1st Combat Signal Regiment, with a young Indigenous woman from the Stars Foundation after an abseiling run at Robertson Barracks. Story by Captain Peter March. Photo by Corporal Rodrigo Villablanca.

The 1st Combat Signals Regiment hosted members of the Stars Foundation during Reconciliation Week, from May 27 to June 3, at Robertson Barracks at Darwin.

Founded in 2015, the Stars Foundation is an organisation that supports Indigenous girls and young women to attend and remain fully engaged at school, complete year 12 and move into full-time work or further study.

The soldiers took the young women through resilience-building activities like indoor rock climbing, an indoor obstacle course, abseiling, and team games to provide the girls an opportunity to build their confidence, leadership, and teamwork skills.

Lance Corporal Faalalotonga Samaila is the junior non-commissioned Stars’ representative and helped facilitate the day’s events.

As the third eldest of 10 children in her family, Lance Corporal Samaila said she understood the value of good role models, and relished the opportunity to have mentored many of the young women in the Stars Foundation program over the past three years.

“I have been privileged to get to know a lot of the young girls and learn about their views on what they see as their future selves,” said Lance Corporal Samaila.

“The girls overcame their fears of rock climbing or abseiling, and also worked as a team to crack a memory-based obstacle course maze.”

“This is a reminder of the good work the regiment can do by participating in community engagement.”

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