NRL Cowboys House receives Indigenous boarding award

A Townsville boarding house has received a national award for excellence for its groundbreaking work looking after Indigenous boarders.

NRL Cowboys House Torres Strait Island dancers

A Townsville boarding facility has received a national award for excellence for its groundbreaking work looking after Indigenous boarders.

NRL Cowboys House, a boarding house for remote Indigenous children who travel to Townsville for secondary schooling, and is run by the charity arm of the North Queensland Cowboys.

Cowboys House general manager Rochelle Jones said she was proud and humbled to receive the Australian Boarding Schools Association's national award for excellence in Indigenous boarding on behalf of her team and their wonderful students.

NRL Cowboys House boarding students from some of Queensland’s most remote communities enjoyed a ’Big Day Out’ focused on water safety on picturesque Magnetic Island, in partnership with SeaLink.

“This award is a testament to the transformative power of education and cultural support,” Ms Jones said.

“The innovative wraparound model at NRL Cowboys House makes it much more than a boarding house, we have created a home away from home where our students want to be and an environment where every student can truly flourish.”

Jared Daunt General Manager ABSA, Rochelle Jones General Manager NRL Cowboys House, Kate Holznagel NRL Cowboys House Programs Manager, Richard Stokes CEO ABSA

Cowboys House was established in 2017 with a boys campus, and a girls campus followed in 2019.

An average of 15 to 20 boarders graduate year 12 every year from Cowboys House, and over 100 children board there in any one year.

Originally published as NRL Cowboys House receives Indigenous boarding award