Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year

Sponsored by East Arnhem Regional Council

Winner: Dawn Ivinson - Graduate Certificate in Community Services Practice (Client Assessment and Case Management) and Graduate Certificate in Community Service Practice (Statutory Child Protection)

Employer: Territory Families
Registered training provider: The Australian Childhood Foundation

Dawn Ivinson is a senior Aboriginal worker for Territory Families, leading a team of four Aboriginal community workers. She completed a double post-graduate qualification in Community Services Practice - Client Assessment and Case Management, and Statutory Child Protection in October 2015.

A proud ATSI woman and single mother of three, Dawn has spent the last nine years working with vulnerable children and families. Her earlier VET study achievements are a Diploma of Child Youth and Family Intervention, and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Now her study plan is complete, Dawn’s goal is to move into the managerial stream where she can make more of a difference for her families and mentor others.

Dawn’s achievements include co-facilitating a 'Sorry Day 2013' event and representing the department at the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Conference in 2015. She’s a keen hockey player and an NT Commissioner of Oaths.

Runner up: Charles Lechleitner - Certificate III in Conservation and Land Management

Employer: Central Land Council
Registered training provider: Batchelor Institute

Fifty-five-year-old Charles Lechleitner has come a long way since his first job as an Aboriginal station hand in the 1970s, when he was paid in trousers, a hat and boots.

After little formal education in his younger years, Charles started studying for a Certificate II in Conservation and Land Management (CLM) with Batchelor Institute in Alice Springs in 2012, the same year he began work as a Ltyentye Apurte ranger with the Central Land Council. Charles graduated with his Certificate III in CLM in late 2015. He is now studying for his Certificate IV and working towards a senior ranger role.

Through his training, Charles has learnt many new skills essential for remote ranger work, like chemical handling, welding, machinery maintenance and fencing. His specialisation in erosion work earned him an invitation to co-present at the National Rangelands Conference in 2015 about his soil conservation and rehabilitation work in his community.