I grew up around the Karrajarri people of Bidgydanga community where I had witnessed many of my close families diagnosed with chronic health conditions simply because of the lack of health access and education we have within our community.

I constantly reflect upon the health of my people, which greatly disappointed me to think that my people as purely disadvantaged in this community.   I have witnessed the upsetting truth between the health gap of my people, where many young, close relationships are affected.

I know I will become a Kaldadoon, Waanji and East Arrenernte doctor that my people have been needing.   My purpose to becoming a doctor is what my ancestors had fought for.   The had fought for the opportunities for me to become a leader in this world.  I am driven to learn as much as I can from western medicine, to know one day I can break down the barriers for my people.

When I am a doctor I would like to be the professional with whom my people enjoy consulting.   I want to listen to what people need, teach and empower them to take ownership of their health.   I believe that education is a fundamental asset in empowering myself and my community to better health outcomes.   After 9 years at boarding school in the city, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be educated in hopes to make future changes for my people and his country.

The most rewarding component of medicine this semester has been the clinical skills classes. This semester, we covered a lot of procedural skills that would prepare us for clinical practice going into year 4. These skills had made me appreciate procedural medicine and had made me look forward into attending my clinical years. Practicing theses skills daily with my peers had allowed me to enter the end of year OSCE comfortably. At the end of the semester, I was placed in the infectious disease team at Joondalup health campus. This was my first formal hospital placement of medical school, and going into this after my pre-clinical years, had made me feel confident and super prepared to enter clinical placements. I believe Curtin medical school had done us well to prepare us clinically.

Next semester, I am looking forward to completing my clinical year in Broome as a part of the rural clinical school (RCS). I believe that there will be many memories and learning to be made while in Broome. Especially, learning how to be a doctor in the community I’m from. RCS will allow me to learn how to be professional within a small community and confidentiality within the work force. I am also looking forward to applying my procedural and clinical skills towards improving the health of my patients. I am going to utilise my time in the hospital to learn as much as I can in order to get through my penultimate year.

In 2024 I am looking forward to the upcoming 2024 PRIDoC conference being held in Adelaide. PRIDoC is an Indigenous-led space for Indigenous physicians, residents and medical students, health researchers, health professionals and allies. PRIDoC provides an opportunity for discussion around shared issues of concern related to the health and wellness of the many Indigenous communities and nations throughout the Pacific region.

Aside from the medicine aspect, I am keen to find a balance between studying and living in Broome, where my hobbies surround camping, fishing, and diving. I am also passionate about connecting back to family, country, and culture while studying at home.

One challenge that I experienced this semester was utilising the semester to revise all pre-clinical content since year 1. Revising all the content was a lot less motivating than learning new content. To cope with this challenge, I made sure that I kept up to date with my studies and changed my study mindset towards a clinical approach.

Through the semester, I continued to be the Indigenous representative for the Curtin Rural Outreach Health Club (CROHC) which I was involved in the medical school’s outreach program during the Kalgoorlie university open day.

I am very thankful to be offered this scholarship by Australian Rotary Health. This scholarship had allowed me to purely focus on my studies and reduce the financial burden on myself.