We are Blacktown

Leanne Redpath is a Dharug artist, educator and book illustrator. She is also connected to the Burubiranggal, Warmuli and many other family groups across Sydney and NSW. Leanne started painting with her mother as a young child. She is the author of Cooee Mittigar and Sharing, children’s books created to share Dharug knowledge and culture. Leanne is a long-serving director of the Dharug Custodian A...

Mayor Chagai is the founder and head coach of Savannah Pride, a basketball club that mentors and connects young people through sport. Savannah Pride is a grassroots youth organisation that draws on the South Sudanese community’s passion for basketball to foster community harmony.  At six years old, war forced Mayor to leave his South Sudanese village. He made his way via Ethiopia to a Kenyan refug...

Kim Loo is a doctor who has worked in the Blacktown LGA for 35 years. She is committed to highlighting the evidence around social, environmental and commercial determinants of health. She is a tireless advocate for climate justice.   Kim is a fourth-generation Australian with a Malaysian Chinese cultural background. She is the mother of two adult children.  Kim is passionate about permaculture and...

Hemanta Acharya has worked as a clinical nurse specialist and mentor to graduate nurses. She is also a talented football player who played for Australia in FIFA's Football for Hope Festival, held during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Hemanta was born in a refugee camp in Nepal after her family was forced to leave Bhutan. She spent 15 years in Nepal and was one of the first to arrive in Austra...

Kelly Anderson is a Dhungatti and Gumbaynggirr woman who lives on Dharug land. Participating in the Too Deadly for Diabetes lifestyle program, Kelly overcame type 2 pre-diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, bursitis, chronic pain and mental ill-health. She’s shared her success with her family who have also joined the program and are experiencing health benefits.   We are Blacktown is a UT...

Kaz Therese is an interdisciplinary artist working across theatre, visual arts and dance, with a practice grounded in performance, activism and community building. They are an award-winning theatre director, programmer and cultural leader.    Kaz’s work has often involved the activation of new spaces, connecting communities and artists to broaden the experience of contemporary art and its audience...

Esky Escandor is a multidisciplinary artist and community worker. He is the rapper in Worlds Collide, a seven-piece Western Sydney band with a wild, polyphonic sound. Esky is a renowned comedian whose talent shines in the documentary film In Search of the White Deer , written and directed in collaboration with Reg Azwar.  Esky believes that art and music have the power to change people: to connect...

Maryam Zahid is an award-wining Afghan-Australian human rights champion, diversity and inclusion practitioner, self-taught artist and social commentator.  Maryam Zahid is the founder of Afghan Women on the Move, an organisation that supports the health, mental wellbeing, individual growth and development of Afghan and other women of diverse migrant backgrounds. Maryam’s work aims to help women rea...

Angelica is a global youth affairs leader, advocate, researcher and speaker. She served as the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations in 2022 and is the current Oceania Youth Advisory Representative to the World Federation of United Nations Associations.   Her work as a Convenor of the African Australian Youth Suicide Prevention Committee has helped her explore what wellbeing looks...

Stephen Gapps is an award-winning public historian whose work investigates the Frontier Wars and seeks their recognition as Australia’s first wars. He is the author of The Sydney Wars 1788-1817 and Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War – The Bathurst War, 1822-4 .   Stephen grew up on Kastelan Street, on one of the few hills in Blacktown. As a kid, he would play cricket in the cul-de-sac, splash aroun...

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 f...

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 ex...

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 reti...

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 for...