Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-Operative Ltd

Awabakal Ltd is primarily a health service but in saying that we offer a range of services. Some of these services include;

• Awabakal Medical Service – 4 clinics located at Hamilton, Cardiff and Raymond Terrace and Maitland. General health and well-being as well as specialist services e.g.: Podiatrist, Cardiologist, etc.
• Early Learning & Education – 2 preschools located at Glendale and Wickham. Children must be minimum age of 3yrs
• Family Health – pre- and post-natal pregnancy care, immunisations, Mums & Bubs group
• Mental Health – for all ages. We have a team made up of Social worker, Psychologists, Psychiatrist, Aboriginal Health workers
• Community Development – community relations, health promotion, Youth services and Tackling Indigenous Smoking program
• Housing portfolio
• Dental service – must be an active patient of the health service to access dental
• Aged Care service – social support, domestic cleaning for elders as well as lawns and Maintenance (open to anyone in community)
• We do not provide domestic violence services however would recommend touching base with the following services

https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/

https://nfss.org.au/

We do operate a dental service from Awabakal Medical Service, but you must be an Aboriginal active patient. Unfortunately, we only provide general dental treatment which only includes Check-ups, extractions, cleans and fillings.

For specialist treatment including Orthodontics you would have to explore the advice of an Orthodontist within the private sector, at your own expense.

If you are not a current patient of Awabakal Medical Service and wish to access dental you will need to complete a Dental Health plan with one of our GPs.

For all dental enquiries and to check your eligibility please contact Awabakal Medical Service on 1300 174 908. Our dental clinic is only available at our Hamilton site but we do have Community clinics at Cardiff, Raymond Terrace and Maitland.

No, Awabakal does not offer an online appointment system. You can obtain an appointment by phoning reception on 1300 174 908.

Awabakal has a regional medical strategy. We offer our services at 4 locations to cope with the growing demand from our community;

• Hamilton caters for the Newcastle region
• Cardiff caters for the Lake Macquarie region
• Raymond Terrace caters for our Port Stephens region
• Maitland caters for the Lower Hunter region

Awabakal Medical Service is open Monday to Friday 8:30am – 5pm, however our hours vary across our clinics. We are closed on weekends. Check with our medical reception team for specific opening times for each site.

For your convenience Awabakal offers both male and female Doctors.

We use an appointment system and we also have some appointments that can be booked on the day. The appointments fill up quickly, so please ring early.

Please remember that emergencies may arise or some consultations may take longer than expected. If you feel that your consultation will require longer than the normal 20 minutes, please inform the receptionist so this can be accommodated.

AFTER HOURS

In case of an emergency please call 000.

If you require medical care outside our operating hours, please go direct to or contact;

GP Access 1300130 147

Doctor to your door 137 425 (13SICK)

John Hunter Hospital 02 4921 3000

Awabakal does not offer a service for Tracing Family history or school project assistance. The City of Newcastle library has an excellent team of staff who do offer this.

I would suggest you give the library a call and they will be more than happy to assist you. Their number is 4974 5342.

Further resources that may assist with your enquiry;

Aboriginal Affairs ask them to post you out the kits from the Family Record Unit called “Finding Your Mob” information folder. In this there is a list of resources they have:

• Hard Copies of the open records of the Aborigines Welfare Board between 1883 – 1969
• Photograph albums of the Aborigines Welfare Board collection in regional locations.
• Copies of the Australian ABO Call the Voice of the Aborigines April – Sept 1938
• Dawn and New Dawn magazines. These are also available online via AIATSIS https://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/collections-online

There is a form in the information folder which lists the open and closed records of the Aborigines Welfare Board collection held at State Records. The main problem though is that getting access to these records requires a trip to State Records down in Sydney! For people who are searching for family records there is also a research request form for Personal Family History Research. This information folder is definitely worth having. If you call 9561 1932 or email them familyhistory@aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au they should send you some out. I believe that they also take some resources out to regional communities so that people who can’t get to the city can view them.

Other Resources:

• The State Library also has some great photographs which people may want to look at: http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/aboriginal-australians
• AIATSIS: online collections are fabulous
• ANCESTRY we have this for free here and it’s a good way to access colonial secretary documents and other things
• NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages – https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search
• Local Studies at Newcastle Library – have some excellent records and books.
• State Library has a great family history unit and many Aboriginal resources http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/aboriginal-australians
• State Archives and Records has files such as: Minute books, correspondence files, exemption certificates (these often have a photograph with them), ward registers, photographs, reserve records. To access these records though the person must apply to view them via the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. That’s why the Finding your mob folder is great to have because it lists the records at State Archives (I’ve attached the State Records register of these resources)

Then there are records kept at the National Archives: Bringing Them Home Index http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs175.aspx and others

Thanks to the support of nib Foundation, Awabakal is able to provide 3 sponsorship rounds per year. These run in February, June and October.

Applications will only be considered if they are received through our online application form, during our active rounds.

Once received the application will be considered and you will be notified in writing of the outcome.

Below are the details that you could contact in relation to performing a Welcome to Country for your occasion;

Aunty Sandra Griffen M: 0447 762 777

Cheryl Suey Smith / Ray Smith M: 0432 244 648

Woirim Local Aboriginal Land Council / Port Stephens PH: (02) 4033 8800

Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council / Maitland PH: (02) 4015 7000

Biraban Local Aboriginal Land Council / West Lake Macquarie PH: (02) 4950 4806

Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council / East Lake Macquarie PH: (02) 4071 4800

Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council / Newcastle PH: (02) 4965 4532

You will need to discuss availability and payment details directly with them as there is usually a fee for this service.

We welcome any feedback that will help us improve our service.

We have a dedicated Awabakal Feedback phone line – 1800 749 292

Or, any medical related complaints should be addressed in writing to:

Health Care Complaints Commission

Locked Mail Bag 18,

Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

or call 02 9219 7444