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Saturday, February 8, 2025

Aboriginal rights activist named SA Senior of the Year

Aboriginal rights activist and advocate for Indigenous health and welfare, Sandra Miller, is the 2023 South Australia Senior Australian of the Year.

The South Australia 2023 Australian of the Year Awards have been announced in a ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre this evening.

The four SA award recipients will join those from the other states and territories for the national awards to be announced on 25 January 2023.

Sandra Miller (pictured), a proud Wirangu woman from the Ceduna area, has been a trailblazer, breaking down barriers for Aboriginal women aspiring to leadership roles at a time when they were under-represented.

Sandra trained as a social worker and in the early 1980s worked for the Department of Community Welfare in Adelaide. She pushed to change government policies that were detrimental to Aboriginal children and encouraged Aboriginal people to become foster parents.

She went on to play an important part in policy development and service design across key state government portfolios, including Aboriginal health, ageing and welfare.

Sandra continues to be a strong voice for her community since leaving the public service. She’s had leadership roles in Aboriginal health and legal rights groups, and holds multiple board and executive appointments. She has represented her community in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance and at the United Nations.

The 2023 South Australia Australian of the Year was tonight named as body image activist, director, writer and speaker, Taryn Brumfitt (pictured, above).

The documentary director leads the Body Image Movement, an Adelaide-based organisation that teaches people to love and appreciate their bodies. Her 2016 documentary Embrace tackled the serious issue of women’s body loathing and Taryn’s path to body acceptance. It was seen by millions of people in 190 countries and is available on Netflix.

Taryn has written four best-selling books. She released a documentary, Embrace Kids, in September 2022 that aims to teach nine- to 14-year-olds to move, nourish, respect and appreciate what their bodies can do.

She has collaborated with body image expert Dr Zali Yager to create an Embrace Kids companion parenting book. They have also created the Embrace Hub – a free, research-based resource for teachers, parents, children and communities on fostering body positivity.

Taryn’s work has reached more than 200 million people. She is an internationally recognised keynote speaker whose work is recognised by UN Women.

Awer Mabil.

The 2023 South Australia Young Australian of the Year is professional soccer player and co-founder, Barefoot to Boots, Awer Mabil. 

Socceroo Awer Mabil is co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation Barefoot to Boots, which aims for better health, education, policies and gender equality for refugees.

His own unique way of celebrating a goal is a message to those struggling with their mental health: you are not alone and you can speak up.

The winger knows something about trying times. Awer grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp after his family fled civil war in Sudan, before coming to Australia at 10. Only a year after reaching his dream to play for the Socceroos, his sister died in a car accident in 2019.

Awer says that he now feels ‘unbreakable’. It is his experience of hard times, the memory of his sister and the knowledge that young people see him as a role model that drives him to perform. It’s what he does that Awer wants to be known for – not his background.

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