Discovering Your Diversity

Dana is celebrating four years at BAE Systems Australia in August and experienced many milestones in her time with the company. ?Currently our Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) Business Partner at the Williamtown facilities, Dana took a defining step by embracing an Indigenous heritage she was unaware of until her mid-thirties. Since then, Dana has used her personal learning journey and knowledge to help educate many across the business.

You recently uncovered new information about your own family heritage. Can you tell us more about this?

In my mid-twenties I met my partner whose grandmother knew my grandmother and confirmed we were Indigenous! A few years later, I’d bumped into one of my cousins who had explored our family ancestry and, in my mid-thirties, I had confirmation and started exploring my ancestry myself. Through having my daughter, I decided I wanted her to have the knowledge and background of who she was and decided to learn as much as possible.

Finding this out later in life, I have both perspectives. I wasn’t brought up in community so I didn’t have the disadvantages that other people still have to this day and I feel I’ve also not had the opportunity to have that connection and knowledge too. Through this perspective, I want to try to educate as many people as I can along the way.

Does it mean something different to you now than it did before? Do you have more of an appreciation for the adversity experienced by Indigenous Australians?

I definitely have an appreciation for the struggles. You look at the impact of something as simple as when Kevin Rudd said sorry and I’ll never forget those images of the emotion felt.

On the other side, there’s been so many reports and recommendations and not much else has changed? It’s hard and multi-faceted but there’s so many people that come out of it and do so much to help improve the lives of Indigenous people.

In his first act as Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese introduced both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to the podium. What are your thoughts on this?

I think any culture, particularly Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander cultures are so big on symbols. That small act – you cannot put it into words, it’s so impactful. It definitely made me emotional and it’s a step in the right direction.

When I first started at BAE, I wasn’t aware that not all BAE sites had the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags side by side with the Australian flag. At Williamtown that’s how it has always been. Speaking with another Indigenous employee on their first day, they walked onto site and only saw the Australian flag and felt the space wasn’t culturally safe for them. As an improvement, the RAP working group developed plaques to acknowledge the country we are on and now every site has those plaques.

What does it mean to you that BAE supports diversity within the business?

We’re doing a lot in the recruitment space with Indigenous organisations in Newcastle and now the organisation has partnered with the STARS Foundation which will hopefully bring more Indigenous girls into the organisation. I think it’s great that the business is supporting these initiatives.

Having the RAP working group has been the catalyst for me in the business becoming more informed and braver. Working with Haley as the RAP Chair has been amazing. Having her speak about ideas and that cultural guidance that she gives the organisation – it’s been so amazing.