Women in Business breakfast celebrating the success of First Nations women of Toowoomba
With her sights set on being drafted into the Brisbane Lions, a young Toowoomba AFL star has been inspired by a group of powerful First Nations women, and one of her biggest idols in the sport. Toowoomba has celebrated the incredible achievements of Indigenous women.
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Growing up, Brisbane Lions star Courtney Hodder was pushed to play netball because rugby and Aussie Rules were deemed too dangerous and male-dominated.
Years after the heartbreaking setback, she has come back stronger than ever and is inspiring girls across the country.
The Brisbane Lions star and proud Badimia and Whadjuk woman shared her story of resilience at a First Nations Women in Business event at Picnic Point restaurant on Thursday.
Originally from Western Australia, Hodder started playing footy at a young age but as she got older many of the elders and women in her family worried about her playing such rough sports.
Just a few months before she turned 18, Hodder got severely injured in a tackle, breaking her leg in two places.
Hodder was told she may never play football again but she didn’t take no for an answer.
“I literally had to learn to walk and run again,” she said.
“You watch all of your friends succeed and already get drafted and go through the ranks and you’re sitting there not knowing what your I guess career is going to look like.
“That traumatic experience at 18, it led me to wanting more in my life.”
After three surgeries and two years out of the game she came back stronger than ever, and signed with the Brisbane Lions.
Playing the past six seasons with the Brisbane team Hodder said she has really seen representation in the sport change.
“It’s been so good to see the growth in footy and the Indigenous participation, and more women involved,” she said.
“We’re at a stage in our career right now where we can be those role models and younger generations can now look up to us.
“There’s now baselines and stepping stones to get to where we are today.
“As someone at the highest level to see our young ones come through the same ranks has been awesome.”
St Joseph’s College year 12 student Sienna Wilson is in level three at the Brisbane Lions academy and it has been her dream to get drafted.
Sienna, a Mardigan Kamilaroi woman, came to the event to see some of the amazing things women like her are capable of.
“We are here to see the creative women that inspire us to do more,” she said.
Hodder said the elders who were originally sceptical of her playing football are now her biggest supporters.
“Now they’re at every game wearing my jersey,” she said.
The First Nations Women in Business event was organised by Toowoomba Surat Basin Enterprise and brought together incredible women from Toowoomba and surrounds.
The guest speakers at the event were Kate Russell, chief executive of Supply Nation, and Courtney Hodder.
The panel of the event included Barb Walker of Barb’s Weaving, Lisa-May Rossington of Red Sand Sisters, and Janet Suey of Deadly Jibbitz.
Discovering heritage and teaching others
Since Barbara Walker was little she remembers playing in the garden with her sisters, twisting bits of grass together turning them into bowls or baskets, but it wasn’t until she moved to Sydney to become a nurse that she found out that she was an Aboriginal woman and the deep cultural significance of her childhood hobby.
She may not have grown up through her early years knowing her heritage but as soon as her dad told her, Ms Walker said it just clicked.
Ms Walker, a Wiradjuri woman originally from Wagga Wagga, has since turned her artistic passion and cultural connections into her Pittsworth based business called Barb’s Weaving.
“Whenever I am weaving I feel that connection back to my aunts and my ancestors,” she said.
“I’m here to pass on my experience.”
Ms Walker was one of the women on the panel at the First Nations Women in Business event, and said she was amazed by the room filled will talented people.
“All these wonderful people in the room are so inspiring in their own way with what they do,” she said.
After retiring from nursing Ms Walker learnt a lot about how to weave by family and elders in Wagga Wagga, and with a passion in teaching others about cultural practices she started her business at the end of last year.
She often uses natural grasses, jacaranda needles, cumbungi, and other indigenous plants.
“I use anything I can get my hands on,” she said.
Ms Walker sells woven products but also runs workshops teaching people how to weave and how to find weaving materials, and even teaches weaving at Harristown State School.
Ms Walker said she loves hearing about students teaching their sisters, mothers, or cousins some of the things they learn from her.
“It’s really good because it’s being passed down through the family,” she said.
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