Dorothy Hobson, Jordan Harding Hobson and Kirsty Davis at the luncheon.
COMBINING Cape York women and the Cairns business community has proven to be a success for International Women’s Day as last week’s Cape York Partnerships function sold out and received rave reviews.
CEO Fiona Jose said 180 people gathered at Crystalbrook Riley for lunch, which featured stories from a number of Cape women, as well as guest speaker Dr Catherine Ball, an internationally renowned and multi-award-winning author.
“It was a fantastic event. Last year we had 100 people and it was invite-only and this year we have surpassed expectations,” she said.
“I think that in our community, we don’t celebrate women enough.
“I wanted to champion First Nations women and our issues.
“What was great about the event was that we were able to put corporate, government and local leaders in the same room with women from the Cape and get them networking.”
Ms Jose said one of the highlights was the first-hand story of Jordan Harding Hobson, a young woman from Lockhart River who spoke of her journey and the
struggles she had faced.
“I went to school and ended up graduating. There were a couple of times last year when I went through depression and wanted to go back home, but I was given a second chance,” she told the room.
With the support of Cape York Partnership and her community, including her grandmother, Jordan was able to put together an application to Rio Tinto Weipa and is now a first-year apprentice at the mining company.
Ms Jose said it was a moving story that highlighted the need to give young Indigenous people a chance to succeed at life.
“There are many stories like hers and we need to be forgiving and accepting that living in remote places is challenging,” she said.
