Women helping women
A DEDICATED group of Maleny women are knitting away to help Indigenous women in a remote Western Australian town.
The group, Maleny Tilitjas, meet every Tuesday morning at the Upfront Club with their knitting looms and fabrics to create colourful beanies.
The Tilitjas started when two local women visited the small town of Balgo, an aboriginal community in Western Australia, to participate in a law camp three years ago.
"In exchange for learning the culture, the laws and dances we worked on practical jobs in the camp with the women elders," group member Rachael Stacy said.
"From there we really wanted to help these women so we created the Maleny Tilitjas.
"There are about 30 of us in the group and a solid group of about 10 ladies who come every week to the Upfront Club to knit beanies for these women. We send about 20 beanies over twice a year.
"Our purpose is to support this community with funding and also to build awareness and support of indigenous women in general so we are involved in a number of initiatives like knitting and selling the beanies, fundraising events locally, Sorry Day events and more recently we have started an aboriginal film library at the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre.
"We have about 10 films already and people can go and watch them for free when the centre is open."
The Tilitjas participated in NAIDOC week taking a tour to Cherbourg, a nearby indigenous community, on Tuesday, July 3.
NAIDOC week was opened by Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson in recognition of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this region.
A number of activities will be held during NAIDOC Week (July 1-8) across the Sunshine Coast region. For details visit council's website or call 54757272.
