Hunt for Pilbara Girl 2015 nearly over

The hunt for this year’s Pilbara Girl is nearly over, with less than a month before one young indigenous woman is crowned the 2015 winner in Broome.

The Pilbara and Kimberley Girl program, run by Goolarri Media, includes a series of workshops to instigate positive change in the personal and professional capacity of young indigenous women.

Eight participants aged between 16 and 25 registered for the 2015 Pilbara Girl program from Karratha, Roebourne, Wickham, Port Hedland and South Hedland.

After participating in personal development workshops for a week, the final four participants were selected at the first heat on Friday September 11.

After much deliberation from the judges, Ava Watkins, Terri Murphy, Angelina Sibosado, Teeanne Brown were selected to travel to Broome for the Pilbara and Kimberley Girl finals.

There they will take part in an additional week of workshops and the final showcase in front of a crowd of more than 600 people.

Sixteen-year-old finalist Ava Watkins said her experience in the Pilbara Girl program had given her the confidence to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a model.

“At the start of the week I was quite shy and now I’ve learnt to be proud of myself,” she said.

“I have made such good bonds with the girls in the last week and will take away some strong friendships from this experience.

“I am really prepared for Broome and after the finals I am hoping to complete a business traineeship.”

Kimberley Girl and Pilbara Girl founder Kira Fong said the transformation of the girls during the workshops surprised her every year.

“A lot of these young women want to do something positive in their communities but they don’t have the confidence or belief in themselves,” she said.

“The Pilbara Girl program gives them the tools to make a difference in their own lives and the communities they live in.

“Our 2013 Pilbara girl winner has been trained up the last two years as a Pilbara Girl facilitator and has helped to deliver the program this year.”

Ms Fong said a long term funding commitment was needed from the government to make the Pilbara Girl program sustainable.

“Funding has been a struggle...last year we managed to deliver a smaller program in the Pilbara thanks to sponsorship from the North West Shelf project,” she said.

“Two weeks ago the government also announced $200,000 interim funding until July 2016, which means we can provide some post care for the girls after the program.

“However it’s really difficult to deliver this program every year with ad hoc funding, so we will be talking to the state government in coming months about how we can secure funding for the next three to fiveyears.”

The Kimberley and Pilbara Girl final will be held at the Goolarri Ampitheatre in Broome on October 9.

For more information, visit www.goolarri.com/kimberleygirl .