On January 25, Tribal Warrior relaunched the iconic former Sydney ferry – the Lady Northcott. With support from members of the Northcott family, the vessel has been given a second name, Wirawi, meaning “woman” in Dharug language.
The launch event was crewed by former Tribal Warrior Indigenous trainees and involved a traditional smoking ceremony, a performance by artist Mi-Kaisha and a panel on the future of Tribal Warrior and Redfern with CEO Shane Phillips and team leaders Lily Miles, Jacob Saunders and Josh Togo.
Wirawi / Lady Northcott will continue to serve Sydney as the first Indigenous-run ferry in the nation, providing employment opportunities to the local Indigenous community and cultural tours for school children, the general public, tourists and corporate organisations.
This project builds on over 20 years of success of Tribal Warrior delivering shared value to the nation, through the education of 3,500 trainees, leading to more than 800 jobs for the local First Nations community, as well as over 4,000 cultural tours for the public.
These activities will continue to support Tribal Warrior’s various community programs that deliver meaningful change for Indigenous people, including restoration of children to families, teaching culture, strength and routine to kids, supporting the health and wellbeing of young people, reducing recidivism rates and increasing employment.
Tribal Warrior acknowledged the outstanding contributions of Transport for NSW, A&P Australia, Eptec, NRMA, Jawun, International Priority, Dulux, and the Friends of Lady Northcott, as well as many volunteers, for bringing the ferry project to fruition.
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More information on Tribal Warrior’s community programs can be found here. Email ed@tribalwarrior.org to explore how to partner with Tribal Warrior on reconciliation.
