Martina’s letter to Minister: Living proof of what a chance means in life

Deadly Hair Dude hair salon owner Gary Strachan knows well that young Indigenous students can achieve if given a chance.

Martina Hazelbane is a traditional Larrakia/Warai woman from Darwin and Adelaide River. She was 15 and half years old when she started a four-year hairdressing apprenticeship with Mr Gary Strachan who owns Deadly Hair Dude in Darwin. Picture: Supplied

• Popular hairdresser begins deadly Indigenous training program

DEADLY Hair Dude hair salon owner Gary Strachan knows well that young Indigenous students can achieve if given a chance.

His Indigenous hairdresser students have the awards and accolades to prove it thanks to the training course he runs in hairdressing and barbering.

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Most recent of these was Kyle Bambra, who was the NT 2021 Young Indigenous Achiever of the Year. The Arnhem Land 19 year-old, is a client of NDIS and although unable to read or write, under Mr Strachan’s guidance he is fulfilling his dream of becoming a qualified hairdresser.

Mr Strachan’s first indigenous trainee is so inspired by Mr Strachan’s work for indigenous people she has written to Australia’s Indigenous Minister Ken Wyatt letting him know about the impact it had on shaping her life.

Martina Hazelbane is a traditional Larrakia/Warai woman from Darwin and Adelaide River. She was 15 and half years old when she started a four-year hairdressing apprenticeship with Mr Strachan. “I was 19 years old when successfully completed it in 1991 with a handful of hairdressing awards under my belt and the most sought-after hairdresser in the NT,” she wrote to Mr Wyatt.

“I was the first Indigenous student employed and trained by Gary Strachan in the NT. During those four years under his guidance I not only attained my national hairdressing qualification, I built strong leadership skills that built my confidence and I gained public speaking skills with an excellent business vision that helped me set me up with future business aspirations.”

Ms Hazelbane said Mr Strachan gave her the skills to contribute three decades to the NT hairdressing trade and she paid tribute to his vision and objection to make a difference in the lives of indigenous people.

She told Minister Wyatt that Mr Strachan’s mentoring had given her the confidence to forge a career in senior management with the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency and she is now has her own consulting firm Stapleton Indigenous Consulting and is the proud founder of the Indigenous Road Safety Academy. “I really am living proof and so grateful that people like Gary Strachan can be the change maker for my people,” she said. Mr Strachan said he was proud to see his students carve a successful pathway in life and their success fuels his passion to help as many Indigenous people as possible in the trade.