WARNING:  IMAGES OF DECEASED INDIGENOUS ELDER CONTAINED IN THIS WEBPAGE

 Mandjah Boodjah  is a not for profit,   Indigenous seniors community housing project promoting the values of respecting culture,  living in harmony and reconciliation .

ACHIEVEMENTS     Mandjah Boodjah ICN was Co-Founded by highly respected Noongar Elder, Patrick Hume and Indigenous Community Facilitator and Educator, Joy Collins.

PROFILES OF FOUNDERS:

Mr Hume is a recipient of the West Australian Centennial Medal for his lifetime commitment to working tirelessly for the advancement of Noongar people. Mr Hume, with his late wife, Lorna Hume, were founding Board members of the Aboriginal Housing Board and Aboriginal Medical Board in Perth and managed the Aboriginal Advancement Council for ten years providing welfare, social, housing, cultural and medical support for the local Noongar community in the 1970’s. Mr Hume held a pivotal role in the return and restitution from the United Kingdom of the remains of Noongar Warrior, Yagan and he was instrumental in the installation of Yagan’s statue on Herrison Island and the Yagan Memorial park in the Swan Valley.
Mr Hume has been a Senior Indigenous Heritage Consultants for major Perth metropolitan road, rail, hospital and public work developments for 30 years. He has registered over 300 Indigenous Cultural Heritage sites with the West Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs and conducted innumerable Cross-cultural and reconciliation workshops for school groups, local government and sporting organisation. Mr Hume has met the Queen on two occasions and is highly respected by numerous W.A. Premiers having worked particularly close with Charles Court and Geoff Gallop. In 2000, in the spirit of reconciliation, Mr Hume was approached by Ms Collins to work together in  on a long term project to address local Indigenous disadvantage. After extensive consultation, Mandjah Boodjah Aboriginal Corporation was incorporated in 2005 with the principle objectives of securing land, housing and a Community Cultural Centre with the guiding principles of strengthening senior Indigenous leadership and Indigenous culture and living in harmony. Deeply symbolic to the project’s success, the nominated site for the Mandjah Boodjah Community and Cultural Centre is located within sight of the birthplace of Mr Hume’s late wife, Lorna.

Sharon  Joy COLLINS 
Ms Collins, a graduate of Deakin University in Melbourne,  worked extensively in remote Indigenous community development and education   with  Marrngu and Martu Western Desert communities in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, Ms Collins went on to Lecture in Aboriginal programs with TAFE and was Indigenous Community Development Facilitator and Trainer with Murray Districts and Winjan Aboriginal Corporations, instrumental in securing funding for housing, cultural, community and employment programs for the local Pinjarra and Mandurah Noongar communities.  Ms Collins returned to the Pilbara in 2002 and 2003 as  an Indigenous Community Development and Trainer, working with five Pilbara Indigenous communities to devise a training program for Remote Indigenous  Language Workers with the Wangka Maya Pilbara Language Centre. The Wangka Maya Pilbara Language Centre further engaged Ms Collins to record and produce a bilingual publication documenting “Nana’s stories of the Nullagine” an anthology of senior Indigenous women stories of the Nyangumarta, Warnman and Manyjiljarra Pilbara communities. Ms Collins and Mr Hume worked tirelessly for 15 years to secure land, housing and community cultural facilities for the Mandjah Boodjah  Village.  A remarkable voluntary achievement based on respect, hard work, friendship and a commitment to   bridging the gap of Indigenous disadvantage, overcoming racism and ‘Living In Harmony’,- the way it should have been from the start.