Continuing the legacy of the women that came before her, Wiradjuri woman Yvonne Weldon is the 2022 NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year.
She joins the likes of 2021 winner and the First Peoples Disability Network Deputy CEO June Riemer and 2020 winner Gunai poet and creative Kirli Saunders.
“This award today is a confirmation for the wonderful people I have grown up around, and been taught by. This award is for them, they have invested in me through their belief and I hope to share that with so many,” Ms Weldon told NITV News.
Ms Weldon was one of four finalists for the Award alongside Elder Aunty Beryl Van Oploo, Mandandanji woman Jane Kemp from Wilcannia, and Founder of Jarin Street and co-founder of Trading Blak, Wiradjuri woman Jarin Baigent.
Finalists of the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year 2022. Source: Supplied Salty Dingo
Surrounded and supported by strong Aboriginal women, Ms Weldon hopes to continue the fight of those she loves.
“Both my grandmothers have passed, it’s been hard to not have them because they played such an important part in my life. They have given to me, and to so many others endlessly and selflessly,” she said.
“Our women play so many different roles, and often it’s not easy to recognise that and at times they aren’t given that recognition.
“There are so many women in life who are no longer here, and I’m so conscious of the fact that I represent them. I need to represent them in an honourable way and in a way they would have liked. It’s who I am, I am what they’ve taught me, and I need to continue to honour that.”
With strong ties Wiradjuri Country in Cowra, in New South Wales’ Riverina area, Ms Weldon is a Sydney local.
An advocate social justice, Ms Weldon has champions child protection, women’s rights, health and education. She is the elected Chairperson for the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Deputy Chair of NSW Australia Day Council and sits on the Boards of Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW) and Redfern Jarjum College.
In 2019, she was awarded the NSW Volunteer of the Year Adult Volunteer for the South Sydney Region and was the NSW South Sydney Volunteer Regional Volunteer of the Year.
Ms Weldon said that her work comes down to needing to make things better for her people.
“My three children are my driving force but who is in my heart, and I tell him regularly, is my grandson. I have to make a difference for his generation so he can make a difference for his peers in time, and the generations after him,” she said.
“So that our people can continue to be represented and heard in ways that haven’t been done in the past.”
In December of 2021, Ms Weldon made history becoming the first Aboriginal councillor elected to the City of Sydney Council.
Wiradjuri woman and NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year Yvonne Weldon. Source: Women NSW
Ms Weldon was elected after a six-month campaign, with little to no money and a small team.
“I was very fortunate and humbled to be elected . . . When I think about what we achieved in such a short space of time, I think it’s a true reflection around where this country is heading.” she said.
Not only dedicated to her people, Ms Weldon has a talent for writing. In 2017, she won the Allen & Unwin Faber Writing Academy Scholarship, and her debut novel ‘Sixty-Seven Days’ is set to be published in June of this year.
"I wrote the book a number of years ago and I entered it into the David Uniapon Award at the Queensland Literary Awards. It was the first thing I ever wrote, and it got shortlisted – I was so proud of that,” she said.
“It’s a fictional piece, a tragic love story – it’s heartbreaking in a lot of aspects but it shows the resilience of people, the beauty of culture. One of the greatest parts of the story is that if you have love and you embrace what that can mean for you, you can achieve anything.”
