Miss / Mr NAIDOC Perth

Kiahara Jacobs-Hampton

Miss Kwobordok 2021

Kaya, I would like to pay my respects to all my elders, past, present and those emerging. My name is Kiahara Jacobs Hampton; I’m 21 years old and a proud Noongar/Koori woman. My mob is Ballardong, Geawegal, Wanaruah and Kamilaroi. I am the second eldest of seven children, and growing up was surrounded by strong Aboriginal women who encouraged us, kids, to be proud of our culture and identity. Being the eldest girl, I feel as if it is now my role to step up and become a strong woman, like the ones before me. And I believe I am ready to take my place in womanhood. These women taught me to be confident, not be ashamed, stand up for what is right, and acknowledge the strong connection we have to this land and that this connection can guide us through life’s adversities. This is the legacy I want to uphold. My journey in continuing this legacy has begun with a career that allows me to teach the importance of Aboriginal culture to the next generation; my role as an AIEO. Currently, I am studying for a Bachelor of Primary Education at Edith Cowan University (ECU). The sole purpose of taking this path is to become the first Aboriginal teacher in my family. I believe that education, particularly around Aboriginal culture, will be the key driver for change in our communities and a fundamental component to the empowerment of our youth at a primary school level.

As an educator, I believe our Elders hold the greatest knowledge, many years of knowledge that their Elders passed on to them. Understanding our spiritual connection to our land, the traditions, customs and culture, I want to create more opportunities for our Elders to have a space in the Education realm.

I joined the Miss NAIDOC Perth program as I want to be surrounded by empowering women who want to do good for themselves and our people. I feel that is precisely what I have found here in the program.
All of us girls have something so special to give to one another. So far, this journey has given us a sisterhood. The Miss NAIDOC Perth program provides us with the space to be confident, share our stories, knowledge, and utmost respect within our stories to remain in the walls of our sisterhood. I can’t wait to see what we all continue to do on our journey together and beyond the program.

Finally, I want to say that I am continuing the legacy instilled in me by the women in my family to be a proud, strong, articulate, intelligent, and humble Aboriginal woman. I want to be a walking example of this for our younger generations of Aboriginal women so they, too, can be whom they want to be.

Kae Cox

Miss Photogenic 2021

My name is Kae Cox; I am a 22-year-old woman from Broome. I have strong connections to the Nirmunburr people from La-Djardarr Bay and the Yawuru people from Broome.

Being the second-eldest grandchild of 16 grandchildren and the eldest child of 3. I have always felt I needed to be a role model for my younger cousins and siblings. Now I view myself as a role model for all of my Aboriginal people. I have been away from my country for the last nine years, finding my independence, furthering my education and discovering who I am as an Aboriginal woman. Through this sacrifice of leaving my home, I’ve learnt what it took for my ancestors to do the same and make similar sacrifices. I hope to show my people that if I can do it, then so can they.

I want to be part of the generation that breaks the toxic cycles our people have been facing within our communities, such as violence, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse and a lack of opportunities. I want our generation to destroy the stigma placed upon our culture and our people. To encourage them to strive towards their dreams, no matter how big or how small. To influence them to keep our beautiful culture alive and thriving. And to prove to the world who we truly are as Aboriginal people.

I view my elders as my backbone as the people who have paved the way for me to have today’s opportunities, including Miss NAIDOC. The choices they have made and the hardships they have faced have led me here, where I am today.
To sacrifice what they have – I know I must now do the same and GIVE BACK.
Give back to my people, make my ancestors proud, and help lead this generation of young Aboriginal people to success by sharing our culture the way our ancestors have taught us and never being ashamed of who we are.

That is why I am now in my final year at University, completing a degree in a Bachelor of Nursing. My goal is to work on country to look after my people and help promote their health, especially with the health gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. I want to equal out this reality we face today, most importantly within mental health. I am passionate about mental health. It is a significant issue within our community. I want to raise awareness and take practical steps for our people who are significantly affected by mental health issues and know they are not alone. There is support – especially from our ancestors being around us every single day.

Consequently, I am participating in the Miss NAIDOC Perth program to show my appreciation to my elders and give back to them and my community. They are the ones who have opened the doors to us to all the fantastic opportunities that we have today. They are my ‘Why’, why I want to be a role model to all of my Aboriginal people. To make them aware of these opportunities and take them as a pathway to your dreams and goals. Through this program and my career, I hope that a small change can make an enormous impact on the future of our people.

Daisy Humphries

Runner-Up Miss NAIDOC Perth 2021

Painting on canvas, books spent hours reading, old music from times before me, pen to paper scribbling thoughts, plans to make a difference and strong desires to change the world.

Welcome to the little parts of me, my name is Daisy Joy Humphries, and today I stand here as a proud 24-year-old Noongar woman who wants to carve a pathway for her people and follow the footsteps of the generations before her.
I belong to an extraordinary line of HUMPHRIES, particularly my grandparents; my grandparents are my role models. Together, travelling Western Australia and starting up the first Aboriginal churches, their power, strength and sacrifice has been passed down and shaped the outcomes of my life so far.

I, fortunately, was given opportunities that I know some do not get – such as a good education, possibilities some only imagine, the ability to travel and receive love from those around me. My life has also been far from easy, and I have always worked extremely hard for everything I have achieved.
As much as I am grateful for my life, looking back on it now, a genuine connection to my roots and culture was something I sadly lacked. When I was younger, I will shamefully admit that I was embarrassed about who I was and where I came from. “You don’t look Aboriginal” that I often received from peers – both upset and comforted me. Back then, being Aboriginal in my eyes was sadly equal with ‘different’, ‘bad’ or ‘less than. Feeling deep down that I was less than others; I still grew up with the ambition to help people.

Drawn to a career in health care and with a longing to improve the lives of others has now gone beyond the field of health as I am currently in my last year of an undergraduate degree in Health Science, which I want to follow on with a Master in Speech Pathology. Since entering this journey, my goal is to work with children up in remote communities in WA, which has been my passion and fire that pushes me to go further and do more to give back. My trip up the Kimberley’s a few years ago and losing my pop in 2019 were significant events that changed my opinion of myself and who I am, and what I want to be. My pop and all the remarkable things that he achieved in his lifetime and what he has done for his people created a sense of pride that I never knew was there. I have grown to embrace and feel empowered by my magnificent culture and heritage and confidently say that I will never be silenced again.

This opportunity in the Miss NAIDOC Perth program will bring me the life skills needed to be a true visionary and leader.
However, it will also enable me to intertwine my culture with the passion for advocating for women, especially Aboriginal women. I have experienced the harsh realities of being a female AND being Aboriginal in this society, and I resonate with those who also feel confusion towards their identity. It’s time to show all young women to embrace who they are and show the strength, resilience, and harmony we truly portray as Aboriginal women.

With my nan extremely sick and pop sadly gone, I am not only excited to be a part of this program for my own personal goals, but to also to make them proud. I will never live up to the awe-inspiring man my pop was, but I am determined to spend the rest of my life trying.

Tiarna Wynne

Miss NAIDOC Perth 2021

My name is Tiarna Wynne and I proudly descend from the Yinggarda, Nyul-Nyul and Minang clans; Yinggarda covering Carnarvon the Mighty Gascoyne area, pearl country of Nyul-Nyul Broome and Minang waters of Albany. I was born on Whadjuk country, Perth and raised in Carnarvon. Today, I call Perth home. I am a first time Mum to my beautiful 10-month-old son who I beyond love and adore.
When I stand on Country, it gives me a great sense of belonging and ownership. The knowledge that the land I walk on today is the same land that my ancestors and elders walked on feels intrinsically magical and powerful. I take every chance available to me when I am not working to connect to Country, frequently visiting my hometown of Carnarvon as well as travelling up and down the West Coast from Albany to Broome. Travelling Country in this way makes me feel more in-tune with my identity and instils a proudness in me of who I am and where I am from.

I have not always felt confident in my identity. Growing up, I experienced heavy racism from a young age. These attacks beat me to a point where I felt no love for myself. Only in recent years have I recognised my strength in overcoming such aggressions to a point where I no longer feel the way that I did. Today I am able to say that I am truly proud of who I am, my people and my culture. I hope to impart this strength and sense of self to my son, siblings and wider Aboriginal community. I will never be ashamed of who I am or who we are again. I am empowered by the stories of our ancestors throughout history and driven to continue listening, learning and teaching our culture with my own family.
I consider myself lucky to have connection to the land in the North and South. Over the last 22 years I have lived in both the country and the city. Experiencing and witnessing country and city life I’ve observed many differences yet many similarities. One common theme that has stuck with me is the drug and alcohol abuse which is prevalent within our Aboriginal community. This is an issue I feel determined to advocate for and work to change. I have personally witnessed too many innocent souls wrestle with the addictive nature of alcohol and substances and have in the past, felt helpless watching it take control of their lives. I would like to work with our youth and focus on solutions to breaking this generational cycle of abuse.

I am so excited and grateful to be on this personal and cultural journey as a 2021 Miss Naidoc finalist. Already it has challenged me, made me feel empowered, vulnerable, and beautiful. I am determined to learn as much as I can from my teachers and peers and eager to gain skills which will help me on my own ambitious journey to reduce the statistics of alcohol and substance abuse in the next generation. I hope that my being here encourages my son, siblings, and others to remain strong, rise to challenges and continue to support one another.

Marani Greatorex

Miss Photogenic 2020

My name is Marani Greatorex, I’m 23 years old and I’m a proud Jabirr Jabirr, Nyikina woman from Broome. My values and beliefs are strongly tied to the promotion of cultural awareness and issues pertaining to Aboriginal people, while advocating for Aboriginal women to celebrate and be proud of their unique identity.

Having lived most of my life in Perth and still learning about my cultural heritage, visiting home in the Kimberley gives me the opportunity to reconnect with family and further enrich my knowledge about my culture, family ties and community connections.

Having a strong passion towards the culture and the arts sector, it’s imperative for communities to have the opportunity to promote their stories and knowledge through art sharing. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in an organisation where I’ve been able to learn about the importance of connecting and creating relationships with communities to enable self-determination and having a voice to share their stories with the wider community.

I was drawn to the idea that the Miss NAIDOC program helps young Aboriginal women to develop leadership skills and encourages us to find our voice to speak on the issues we believe are important. It would be an absolute privilege to be able to use this platform to spark difficult conversations pertaining to the prevalent and ongoing issues we face as collective community. I would use my voice to promote cultural awareness, bring attention to the incessant institutional racism in our societies, and the importance of enabling communities to have the right of self-determination over their stories, culture and country.

I’m looking forward to this journey alongside other beautiful, strong, inspiring women and to help each other find our voices to become role models for other young Aboriginal women.

“it’s imperative for communities to have the opportunity to promote their stories and knowledge through art sharing” – Marani

Rekeisha Voss

Miss Kwobordok 2020

I am a 27 year old Whadjuk Noongar Budja woman born and raised in Perth WA, I am a mother of two children and I’m one of 5 siblings, throughout my childhood I grew up in what some would consider a broken home my siblings and I witnessed domestic violence and moved from home to home, the one thing that kept us strong and together was our culture and our secure family unit, we may not have had a lot but we had each other and that was very important to us, for this reason family means everything to me it’s one of my core values that has been instilled in me from a young age that alongside with my culture, my aboriginality isn’t just my nationality it’s the air I breath.

On my father’s side, I am also a Polynesian, Cook Islander. I never got to know my father’s culture as my dad lived all around Australia and we rarely got to see him, I am now in the process of connecting with that side of my family and learning more about my father’s culture. My Noongar last name is Woods, my last name is Voss because my grandmother Shirley married a German man.

At the age of 17, I had my daughter, who is now 9, and I have a son who is 5. I always knew that I didn’t want to just be a mum, I wanted to help others who may have grown up with the same struggles as my siblings and I. I had a dream, I just didn’t know how to get there, so instead, I focused on being a mother, the best mother I could be. But unfortunately, I was in and out of homelessness. Back in 2013, once I had eventually found my feet. I enrolled in TAFE to study a Diploma in Beauty Therapy; once I had completed this, I would mainly help my sisters and cousins with the importance of self-care etc. and worked from home. In 2015, I had my son, working from home and at Novatel hotel. In 2016 to 2018, I worked at Crown Casino and enrolled in Community Services.

I ended up doing a traineeship and completed a Cert III in Government and gained full-time employment at the Department of Training and Workforce Development WA as an IT service Desk Officer, upon completion I won the WA Torres Strait Islander of the year 2019.

“My aboriginality isn’t just my nationality it’s the air I breath.” – Rekeisha

Tamika Ponton

Runner-Up Miss NAIDOC Perth 2020

My name is Tamika Ponton, and I am a proud Ballardong Noongar woman, with ties to Whadjuk and Yued country. I grew up in Perth and am one of five children. Family is an integral part of my life. I was raised by an amazing non-Aboriginal woman who supported and embraced the Aboriginal culture and helped build me into a strong Aboriginal woman. My dad ensured that I knew who I was, where I came from and made sure that I had a strong connection to family, country and culture.

I was a part of the Follow the Dream program at Lockridge Senior High School, which got me involved in university outreach programs and interested in Medicine. I took a gap year after high school and worked at a local GP practice. I continued working there when I started Medicine. As I began studying Medicine, my passion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health amplified, and I realised that this was all I wanted to do.

I was young when I first started Medicine, and I wasn’t studious as I needed to be, that combined with a lot of other things happening in my life – it wasn’t the right time to study Medicine. I deferred my medical degree and began to study nursing, as I loved health and wanted to make a difference. After graduating, I started working in the hospital, this allowed me to travel and build my own house. But my passion for health, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health got stronger, and I wanted to do so much more. So, I returned to study Medicine at UWA.

Medicine has given me a fantastic opportunity to explore my passion, including the chance to study in Derby for a year and travel overseas and interstate. I have been the UWA Student Representative for the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association for the past 2 years, and the Western Australia Medical Student Society Indigenous Representative this year, allowing me to begin to have a stronger voice surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. I am currently in my final year of Medicine and due to graduate in December.

My future goal is to specialise in a surgical field and work across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. I want to be a part of a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people don’t need to travel away from country to receive the services that they need.

“My dad ensured that I knew who I was, where I came from and made sure that I had a strong connection to family, country and culture.” – Tamika

Katelan Stack

Miss NAIDOC Perth 2020

I am 24 years of age, and I am a proud Noongar woman from Perth. I have strong family connections to the Yuat and Balladong people. My grandparents and parents are my role models, and I know they have worked hard and sacrificed a lot in their time. Therefore, what I do now must count; by making my grandparents and parents proud through carrying on their legacy is essential. They have instilled in me never to be ashamed of who I am. My Aboriginality is what makes me unique, and that alone gives me power. I want to walk on this unusual path full of experiences, achievements and stories that my Elders have laid out for me. I want to fill my life with joy, growth, new experiences, friendships, laughter and most importantly, happiness. After facing my own obstacles, struggles, and all kinds of experiences, great and hard.

I want to see them grow into want they want, and then go out into the world and make an impact on others. I want to make a change. And I will make that change. Over the past seven years, I have been working with people, and I love it. Currently working as a flight attendant, travelling around WA and seeing my country is special to me. I love travelling and, one of my dreams is to go to as many places and see as many things as possible.

In my spare time, when I am not flying around WA, I am working on another goal of mine, which is boxing. Boxing has been a big part of my self-development journey. It is helping me with my mental health, mindset and my self-appearance over the last year. Fitness is the balance I need in my life to keep fit and healthy and help me become my best self. When I am boxing and achieving my fitness goals, I feel it helps me with all other areas in my life.

I have always wanted to apply and be a part of Miss NAIDOC. I feel being a part of the Miss NAIDOC Perth program is a fantastic way for me to get in touch with myself and culture. As I mentioned carrying on my grandparents and parent’s legacy is essential to me, and I feel being a part of Miss NAIDOC, I am giving back to them and our people. As wanting to be a Motivational Speaker for our people is a dream of mine.

I feel this is an incredible way to start using my voice and hopefully will encourage others to step up and use their voices. I think this program will help me excel as an individual. Being a part of this program, surrounded by amazing women, hearing their stories and perspectives is very empowering. Meeting these amazing women is what we need for our journey to become our best selves.

“My Aboriginality is what makes me unique, and that alone gives me power. I want to walk on this unusual path full of experiences, achievements and stories that my Elders have laid out for me.” – Katelan