(Indigenous reporter Bridget Brennan at Lulla’s Children and Families Centre in Shepparton, an Aboriginal child care centre - Photo: Bridget Brennan)

As the ABC celebrates NAIDOC Week, Back Story spoke to one of the organisation’s talented Indigenous journalists, Radio Current Affairs reporter Bridget Brennan. Bridget is one of the 2016 Andrew Olle scholars and is spending 12 months investigating issues affecting Indigenous Australians. She told Back Story how reporting on Indigenous affairs has helped her connect with her culture.

By Chloe Brant

Bridget Brennan has been on the road for the past few months, seeking out stories for upcoming reports on Indigenous children and teenagers. Investigating the over-representation of Aboriginal kids in child protection, Bridget travelled to Tamworth, Katherine, Brisbane and Shepparton to meet some inspiring people with great stories to tell about how they are trying to combat the problem.

“Listening to their stories has made me feel really connected to my culture,” says Bridget. “Working at the ABC allows me to go out and do these types of stories, which is really great.”

Bridget is from Victoria and of Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta heritage on her father’s side.  She grew up with her mother and it was sometimes difficult for Bridget to connect with her culture.

“It was tough at points when I wasn’t surrounded by my Aboriginal culture and family, and I think that’s actually a common thing for a lot of Aboriginal people, but I did grow up with a mum who always taught me to be very proud of my ancestry. I always had a sense of who I was because of her.”

(Bridget Brennan interviewing and painting with Aunty Pearl Slater in Tamworth - Photo: Bridget Brennan) 

Bridget started at the ABC as a cadet journalist in Sydney six years ago. She moved to Darwin to take on a role in the newsroom for two and a half years and, after a stint in Hong Kong, Bridget is now back in Sydney working for Radio Current Affairs. While working for AM, The World Today and PM, Bridget was awarded the 2016 Andrew Olle Scholarship.

“I pitched an idea to look at community-driven projects designed to help close the gap. I wanted to look at mothers’ health, early education, high schooling and youth unemployment. I talked to so many committed, hard-working people who are working to close the gap. Even though things don’t seem to be getting much better, there are still so many people around the country who are really passionate about local solutions to improve things for the next generations.”

(Bridget Brennan Year 12 students at Bremer State High School in Ipswich - Photo: Bridget Brennan)

The Olle Scholarship honors highly respected broadcaster Andrew Olle and was founded by the ABC after his death in 1995 to create career development opportunities for journalists and program makers early in their career.

Grateful to have been awarded this scholarship, Bridget says it’s enabled her to hone her skills in a welcoming environment.

“Working at ABC has been amazing. I always get a sense of warmness interviewing other Indigenous people and the ABC’s Indigenous staff is a really lovely community to be part of.”

Connecting up for bi-annual conferences, the ABC mob share their stories and ideas about how to improve the ABC’s coverage of Indigenous affairs.

“I think we can do better - our coverage of Indigenous women needs to improve and we need to get a bigger breadth and spread of Koori women into our programs. I hope that’s something we can start to change.”

Bridget has always been interested in Indigenous culture and that inspired her to spend four months on the road collecting Indigenous stories.

“For my project, I talked to some really interesting people out in the community about how to close the gap over the next ten years. The people I talked to are very proud of their heritage. There are so many people around the country who are really passionate about local solutions and doing incredible health research to close the health gap.”  

Bridget has come across a staggering figure of Indigenous children in Victoria being thirteen times more likely to be in foster care than non-Indigenous children.

“There are complex issues that result in this figure. There is a huge amount of work still to do. People I’ve met around this country are so committed, though. Their work to improve these outcomes is their passion and, I think, let’s highlight the people who are trying to change those stats.”

This year, Bridget has been blown away by the strong Aboriginal women who work in Indigenous early education centres and research.

“A centre I visited in country Victoria operates with limited funding but the women there are so tough and inspiring - they just roll their sleeves up and work hard because they love their community so much, it was so special to spend time with them.”

By working at ABC and having the opportunity to journey around Australia collecting inspiring and heartfelt stories, Bridget knows there’s still much to be done, but believes Australia is heading in the right direction.

She’s connected with the people she’s met around Australia in rural and urban communities and learnt being Indigenous means something different for each person.

“Indigenous people work in a variety of professions and almost 70 per cent of the Indigenous population lives on the east coast of Australia, in areas like Brisbane or western Sydney or Melbourne. No matter where we live, I think the common thing is that Aboriginal people are proud of their thriving and surviving culture.”

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