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We are Blacktown
We are Blacktown episodes
- Om Dhungel
Om Dhungel is a consultant, mentor, trainer and speaker who helps people and organisations explore and unleash their full potential using a strength-based approach. He is the author of Bhutan to Blacktown – Losing everything and finding Australia, a memoir about how being forced from his home country shaped his life and character.
Om, his wife Saroja and daughter Smriti have lived in Blacktown for twenty years. Smriti’s new baby has brought a third generation into their Blacktown homes.
Om is a renowned community leader in Western Sydney who serves on several committees and boards including the NSW Health Ministry, NSW Police, Multicultural NSW and Blacktown City Council. He has been instrumental in the settlement of more than 5000 Bhutanese refugees, one of the most successful refugee initiatives in Australia’s history.
He is an Honorary Adjunct Fellow at UTS and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
We are Blacktown is a UTS Impact Studios production.
Producers: Britta Jorgensen, Jane Curtis, Celine Teo-Blockey
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Sound design: Melissa May
Research: Jackie May
Podcast artwork: Alexandra Morris
Theme music: Beaming by FRIDAY8 min - Daisy Montalvo
Daisy Montalvo is a director and creative producer who has worked for key Western Sydney arts organisations including FUNPARK, PYT Fairfield and Blacktown Arts Centre.
Her telenovela-inspired web series, Las Rosas, tells the story of one family’s conflict around a quinceañera (a 15th birthday coming-of-age celebration marked in many Latin American families). The story was inspired by her own experience growing up in Western Sydney as a first-generation Australian whose parents migrated from El Salvador, and it was filmed in the childhood bedroom of her family home.
Daisy’s art and filmmaking shines a light on young people from the Blacktown area and the incredible things they are doing.
We are Blacktown is a UTS Impact Studios production.
Producers: Britta Jorgensen, Jane Curtis, Celine Teo-Blockey
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Sound design: Melissa May
Research: Jackie May
Podcast artwork: Alexandra Morris
Theme music: Beaming by FRIDAY7 min - Geetha Bhat
Geetha has lived in Toongabbie since the early ‘80s, after migrating with her young family from Karnataka, South India. She has been involved in community service and charitable organisations in her local area for over 35 years, balancing this work alongside her 36-year career at the ATO, Metcash and Mission Australia.
Geetha is a respected elder in her Havyaka community. She gave full-time retirement a try but has recently taken up a part-time role with NSW Healthshare to stay active and be involved with her local hospitals.
She is actively involved with Healthy Living Toongabbie Inc a group of health-conscious business and community leaders in Toongabbie urging local residents to join in the fight against type 2 diabetes. When at home, Geetha likes to spend time in her garden, cook delicious meals for family and friends and catch up on the latest business and investing news.
We are Blacktown is a UTS Impact Studios production.
Producers: Britta Jorgensen, Jane Curtis, Celine Teo-Blockey
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Sound design: Melissa May
Research: Jackie May
Podcast artwork: Alexandra Morris
Theme music: Beaming by FRIDAY7 min - Leanne Tobin
Leanne Tobin is a multidisciplinary artist of Irish, English and Aboriginal heritage, descending from the Buruburong and Wumali clans of the Dharug, the traditional owners of the Greater Sydney region. She grew up in Western Sydney.
Leanne is a descendant of Maria Locke, one of the first students at the Blacktown Native Institution, a residential school for Aboriginal students who were often forcibly removed from their families. Maria Locke was a high-achieving student and went on to be the first Aboriginal woman to receive a colonial land grant. When she died, the government revoked the land. Leanne has created several major works for a series of arts programs at the site of the Blacktown Native Institution.
Leanne believes in the power of art to raise awareness and to heal. Her work is driven by a strong sense of truth-telling about the past and the present, and about what happened here on Aboriginal land.
We are Blacktown is a UTS Impact Studios production.
Producers: Britta Jorgensen, Jane Curtis, Celine Teo-Blockey
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Sound design: Melissa May
Research: Jackie May
Podcast artwork: Alexandra Morris
Theme music: Beaming by FRIDAY6 min
About We are Blacktown
From the publisher's feed
Portraits of Blacktown community leaders and people working for change. You'll hear from a doctor who is sounding the alarm about how dangerous heat can be for human health, a basketball coach whose players have made it to the big league, a Dharug traditional owner whose art and stories are telling the true history of the area's first people, and many more Blacktown legends.
Experience stories of strength and thriving communities, straight from Sydney's West. And to see pictures of each of these people, visit https://impactstudios.edu.au/weareblacktown
We are Blacktown is part of a place-based audio project by Impact Studios, supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation. The project, Welcome to Blacktown, sought to learn about Blacktown’s many and varied communities, together with the innovative and inspired social change work that is happening there. Over six months, the Impact Studios team conducted almost 100 interviews with people connected to Blacktown, exploring and investigating the question of how communities thrive. The interviews were rich, broad and non-extractive. We sought to understand the full context of what each person was doing. We listened to them tell stories of their lives, on their own terms: their families, their passions, their work and what motivates them to do it, their challenges and achievements.
We are Blacktown is produced by Impact Studios at the University of Technology Sydney, in partnership with The Paul Ramsay Foundation.