CENTRAL COAST

 

OVERVIEW

The Central Coast region of New South Wales is the home of the Darkinjung people and a region rich in cultural heritage with over 7,000 registered Aboriginal sites of cultural significance.

Jawun began sending secondees to the Central Coast in March 2012.

The Central Coast region is bounded by the Hawkesbury River in the south, the Watagan Mountains in the west and the southern end of Lake Macquarie in the north and is aligned to the boundaries of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council. The region is a network of towns that have been linked in recent years by expanding suburban development.

The Central Coast is home to a diverse and fast growing Aboriginal community of over 12,000 people. Aboriginal people on the Central Coast continue to face a number of significant challenges including employment, education and health. However, the community have embraced community-wide collaboration, underpinned by strong leadership, strong governance structures and a developing economic base. Amidst a changing landscape driven by regional population growth and expanding urban development, the Aboriginal community on the Central Coast have come together to drive changes and deliver services under a collaborative regional governance structure.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY

FIELD TEAM

  • Regional Director

    Danielle (Dani) comes to Jawun with over twenty years’ experience living and working with Aboriginal communities around Australia. Dani grew up on Wonnarua and Worimi country in regional NSW and spent much of her adult life living remotely across northern Australia.

    Dani is an experienced project manager and facilitator primarily working in the NGO sector supporting Aboriginal empowerment initiatives. Dani has a particular skillset in collaborative leadership and collective impact, bringing people together to address complex problems.

    From her early years starting out as a community development practitioner Dani has had a diverse and interesting career centred around creating conditions for positive change. Most recently Dani has worked with Empowered Communities facilitating ground up priority setting and providing policy and planning advice.

    Now living back in her home town of Newcastle with her fourteen year old soccer-star son Dani is honoured to support the Central Coast region as Jawun Regional Director.

    To contact Dani, please email dtucker@jawun.org.au

  • General Manager, Regional Investment

    Prior to joining Jawun, Glenn had a distinguished career working with some of Australia’s largest corporates. He has vast experience in management, including running his own businesses for five years, in excess of 11 years banking with Westpac and NAB and running Telstra store teams across 3 states. Glenn joined Jawun 6 years after having completed a secondment in 2009 working alongside the Archer Point Trust in Cooktown.

    In 2015, Glenn was appointed as the Regional Director for Jawun’s Cape York operations supporting the Indigenous communities of Cape York. In June 2017 he was appointed to the role of Jawun’s General Manager, Regions, supporting the local leadership in East and West Kimberley, North East Arnhem Land, Cape York, Goulburn Murray, Central Coast NSW and Central Australia. In 2019 Glenn was appointed General Manager Finance & Operations for Jawun; and in 2022 Glenn became General Manager, Regional Investment launching Jawun’s 12th region in the Pilbara.

    Glenn is an avid learner holding a number of qualifications including a Bachelor of Accounting and an Executive MBA, which provided him the opportunity to study overseas in four countries.

    To contact Dani, please email gweston@jawun.org.au

CASE STUDIES

Case studies show how Jawun secondees have achieved real results. If you are interested to learn more about Jawun's work in this region, click on the case studies below.

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND PRACTICAL PROCESSES

PEER TO PEER KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AT DARKINJUNG

SUPPORTING CULTURAL GROUNDED TRAINING FOR INDIGENOUS ARTISTS

SUPPORTING THE GLEN DRUG AND ALCOHOL REHABILITIATION CENTRE

HELPING CENTRAL COAST ORGANISATIONS WORK TOGETHER

DARKINJUNG LOCAL ABORIGINAL LAND COUNCIL

YERIN ELEANOR DUNCAN ABORIGINAL HEALTH CENTRE

SUPPORTING COLLABORATION

NAISDA