International Women’s Day was held on 8 March, and the month celebrated some remarkable women.
Betty Macharia, an African-Australian community sector worker, was named the 2023 ACT Woman of the Year. She volunteered as the executive secretary of the African Australian Council ACT; and was an executive in the East African Community Association. Passionate about making a difference in mental health, domestic and family violence and overcoming barriers for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, last year she ran a cultural Women’s Health Week event themed ‘Dera Night – Our Health, Our Way’.
Jenny Mobbs, CEO of Council on the Ageing (COTA) ACT, was the 2023 ACT Senior Woman of the Year. She advocates for the rights of older people and has been a representative on a range of advisory and working groups, including the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing.
The 2023 ACT Young Woman of the Year was Sophie Aboud, a sexual violence activist who designed the safe response toolkit, a comprehensive resource for victim-survivors of sexual violence and their supporters.
Natasha Bullock, a curator, arts leader and historian at the National Gallery of Australia, won the 2023 ACT Australian Awards for Excellence in Women’s Leadership.
To mark International Women’s Day itself, the first statue of a historical woman in the national capital was unveiled, portraying the first women in Australian Federal Parliament: Dames Dorothy Tagney and Enid Lyons.
Canberra Citizen of the Year 2023
Katrina Fanning AO PSM was named Canberra Citizen of the Year for her dedication to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. She was ACT Australian of the Year in 2020; Canberra Woman of the Year, and ACT NAIDOC Person of the Year in 2014; and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to the Indigenous community through education and health initiatives, and to sport.
“Over many years, Ms Fanning has made a significant contribution in our community as the head of secretariat at the Coalition of Peaks on Closing the Gap, director at Coolamon Advisors, a past Chair of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body (2017–21), as well as her contribution to rugby league at a local, national, and international level,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
A professional rugby league player, Ms Fanning was an inaugural Jillaroo who represented Australia 26 times throughout her 14-year career. She was appointed chairperson with the Australian Rugby League Indigenous Council in 2012; was the president of Australia Women’s Rugby League; has been a director of the Canberra Raiders since 2018; and is president of the Canberra Women’s Rugby League.
Canberra Business Chamber
Graham Catt resigned as CEO of the Canberra Business Chamber to head Independent Schools Australia, the national peak body for private schools. When Mr Catt became the Chamber’s CEO in early 2020, during the Black Summer bushfires, he never imagined that he would have to guide businesses through three of the most difficult years in the ACT’s history: a time of lockdowns, regulations, and businesses unable to trade. But the crisis has passed, and businesses are optimistic once more.
“As someone who moved to Canberra in 2018, it was a great privilege,” Mr Catt reflected on his time with the Chamber.
Ukrainian refugees
We spoke to Inna Popova and her son Kyrylo, displaced from their home in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Within a month of the war, they had fled to Canberra. Inna, who worked as an unemployment officer and a teacher, spoke of the war’s sudden onset, the emotional toll it took on her and her son, and the difficult decision to leave Ukraine for their safety.
Upon arriving in Canberra, they faced the trauma of adjusting to a new life. Leaving everything and everyone they knew behind was “painful”, and Australia’s geographical and cultural isolation was a scary prospect. But war changes everything.
“When the war started, it’s like your life stopped,” Inna said. “I don’t know how long this war will continue. But I love Ukraine. It’s my country.”
Shane of the Antarctic
Nearly 20 years ago, Shane Rattenbury went to Antarctica to lead Greenpeace ships tracking the Japanese whaling fleet. This year, the ACT Greens leader returned to the great white south, under very different circumstances: “An expedition about science, education, and public participation.”
He was one of 110 ambassadors to the Antarctic Climate Expedition, a floating climate summit and nine-day voyage aboard the Sylvia Earle.
While the Expedition was underway, sea-ice was at its lowest since records began in 1979, for the second year running, and CSIRO predicted that stronger El Niño events due to climate change could accelerate irreversible melting of Antarctic ice shelves and ice sheets.
“There is still time to turn things around,” Mr Rattenbury said. “There will be some impacts on Antarctica, but the question we are faced with is: are we prepared to take the action now that will minimise those impacts? Or are we going to simply turn a blind eye, and allow those great impacts to occur in Antarctica which will impact all of us?”
In other news
The National Sheep Dog Trials celebrated their 80th year at Hall Showground on 13-19 March. The first official championship event was held in 1943 at Manuka Oval to raise funds for the Legacy organisation during World War II. Starting off as a one-day event, it has grown into seven days of entertainment for all those in attendance.
Canberra’s Jamala Wildlife Lodge has taken home Gold and its stablemate the National Zoo and Aquarium a Silver award at the 2022 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards. This was the first time the Canberra region had won gold since the 2018 awards.
