QATSIF announces over $2.6M in funding for Indigenous Scholarships
QATSIF (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation) has announced over $2.6M in scholarship funding to support over 1400 Year 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to complete Year 12 with a Queensland Certificate of Education.
QATSIF recently celebrated the 10th Anniversary of its formation by the Queensland Government on November 25, 2008. QATSIF was formed to ensure that the interest on $26M of unclaimed Stolen Wages money held in trust was available to help young Indigenous Queenslanders.
At QATSIF’s 10th Anniversary celebrations, Aunty Ruth Hegarty, QATSIF’s patron, celebrated author and Stolen Wages campaigner acknowledged QATSIF’s humble and challenging beginnings and spoke with great pride about its incredible achievements in supporting Queensland’s Indigenous young people.
Over its first nine scholarship rounds, QATSIF has supported over 7,300 Indigenous students with their senior studies. QATSIF has provided over $16M to support Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students without touching a cent of the original capital. The Queensland government has recently supported QATSIF with an additional $6M in funding.
QATSIF’s 10th round of scholarships is the largest in the foundation’s history with a further 1416 students being offered scholarships in the latest round.
QATSIF provides $1000 per year to support Indigenous students in 271 schools from across all of Queensland’s education systems – State, Catholic and Independent.
QATSIF state school students have been named as the “Highest Achieving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Queensland” for the past three years.
This year, three of QATSIF’s 1205 graduates were named as the dux of their schools and a further 79 held leadership positions within their schools including 12 School Captains.
Some of QATSIF’s best known alumni include award winning recording artist Emily Wurramara, Queensland Firebird Jemma Mi Mi and Commonwealth Games bronze medal boxer Clay Waterman.
QATSIF is very proud to have produced Indigenous professionals across many fields including medicine, engineering, education and law.
For anyone wanting to know more about QATSIF’s great work or to support QATSIF, please visit QATSIF’s website (www.qatsif.org.au) or social media pages.
For more information or additional photos, please contact:
Michael Nayler
QATSIF Secretariat Director
(07) 3257 1777