Awana Mamanta
‘Awana Mamanta’, which means ‘hello my friends’ in Tiwi.
The Tiwi Islands are 80 kms north of Darwin and include the three main communities of Pirlangimpi, Wurrumiyanga and Milikapiti.
I live in Milikapiti, but was born and bred in Darwin.
I have seven siblings, including three brothers and four sisters.
My Mother is Tiwi and my father is Italian.
I have had four children of which three are surviving.
My mother was taken from my grandmother when she was about six years old to Garden Point Mission on the other side of the islands where she received little education.
She was a nanny to the children of the Paspaley family and cleaner of their home.
My mother instilled in all of her children the importance of education and gaining good employment.
Although I left school in Year 11, I gained employment the very next day as a checkout chick at Woolworths.
Later I began working at an accountants’ firm and went on from there to both finish my Year 12 equivalent and give birth to my first son in in 1983.
It was 1985 when I woke one morning and told my mother that I needed to find out more about my culture and history and that was when I moved to live at Milikapiti.
First council job
I had worked in various jobs through the community until I felt I wanted to work for the local council.
A vacancy came up for a bookkeeper, which I applied for and was successful. While I was working at the council I was asked to do the minutes of the council meetings.
Although I knew it was the most exciting part of the work, it gave me my first insight into local councils.
Some of you may be aware that Aboriginal society is quite often patriarchal.
Being surrounded by men in council meetings, some being my relatives was at first intimidating, but always interesting and at time hilarious.
Of course there was robust and fiery dialogue exchanged over certain issues at these council meetings, but it was doused later on in the day at the local Milikapiti Sports and Social Club.
In 2003 the club committee approached me to be the licensee and it was while I was working there that I decided to run for council.
Overcoming challenges
In 2004 I was elected as Deputy President, but this was a year of heightened and mixed emotion, as my beautiful mother also passed away.
I have suffered plenty of grief firstly with the loss of my third child in 2000, my partner from suicide in 2002 and then my mother in 2004.
In 2008, when the government formed the Shire, I was elected as mayor of a council consisting of eight men and four women, and we re-elected in 2012.
We currently only have two women on council, who are my beautiful granddaughter Therese and myself.
The Tiwi Islands are a patriarchal society and at times I find it daunting but I continue to strive for what I want to achieve.
The things that I have achieved in my time in local government is the start of the night patrol program, securing funding for a water feature in my community, improved sporting facilities and suicide and intervention prevention programs to name a few.
Our Shire is very proud of the formation of the Milimika Festival that is a cultural and contemporary event and we held our first one in 2011.
Other significant business that makes me very proud is receiving the bronze award for gender equality in 2010 and a commendation for it in 2012.
