Dancers from the Wagga Torres Strait Island Dance Company performing at the Awards for Excellence. Image: Dylan Evans Photography
Here are all the winners of the QAIHC Awards for Excellence awarded in June.
Kalwun Development Corporation Limited
Member of the Year Award
In 2024, Kalwun marked 30 years of service to the Gold Coast region — a testament to its enduring community impact. More than 400 people attended Kalwun’s anniversary celebration at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Kalwun partnered with IUIH to secure $31.5 million for a new health facility and expansion of the Coomera Hub.
Its Child, Youth and Family Services team now delivers tertiary family intervention services, strengthening support for vulnerable families.
Kalwun also secured funding to support 200 more Elders through the Commonwealth’s Flexible Aged Care Program.
Fallon Grainer: Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Care Service
Leader of the Year Award
Fallon Grainer, a proud Kuku Djungan, Tagalaka, Tableland Yidinji, Zagareb, Mer and Meuram woman, leads with cultural intelligence and self-determination.
A lifelong Mareeba local, Fallon is a schoolteacher, volunteer and Mulungu Board member. She became a teacher to uplift First Nations children, believing education and healthcare work hand in hand.
As Company Secretary and former Chairperson, Fallon helped lead major projects — including the 2022 opening of the Midin Clinic in Atherton.
A natural leader, she fosters inclusive environments where others thrive. Fallon embodies the Mulungu motto, ‘Building Strong Leaders, Strong Community, Better Health’.
Shirley Curley: Palm Island Community Company
Youth Advocate of the Year Award
Shirley Curley, a proud Bwgcolman woman, is a Youth Leader in Deadly Choices’ Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) program and Community Events Officer at PICC. As a TIS ambassador, she leads health promotion activities that support people to quit or avoid smoking and vaping. She also works with clinicians to help youth quit.
Shirley is a mentor to young people navigating early adulthood. Her lived experience makes her a trusted voice for youth in remote communities.
PICC CEO Aunty Rachel Atkinson said, “through her youth leadership, advocacy and mentoring she is a true champion of cultural connection, she is an advocate for ending systemic racism and a leader in creating health equity.”
Cultural Birth Support Workers: Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan
Innovation Excellence Award
Mookai Rosie’s model of care for women birthing off Country is a gold standard benchmark that exists nowhere else in Australia.
After seeing Cape York women experience birth trauma in Cairns without support or continuity of care, Mookai Rosie developed a culturally safe maternal program to address these issues.
It introduced Identified Cultural Birth Support Workers to support expectant mothers alongside midwives. They attend antenatal appointments, promote bonding and assist with positioning during labour.
After discharge, Mookai Rosie supports mothers with follow-up midwife visits and help returning to their home communities.
Carbal Outreach Services Team: Carbal Medical Services
Partnership Excellence Award
Carbal’s Strong Start, Bright Future program exemplifies multi-agency collaboration. The program united Carbal’s outreach team, researchers from the University of Queensland, and agencies across health, education, justice, child safety, and disability sectors to co-design a whole-of-service approach to FASD.
Built on trust developed between Carbal and participants in Strong Mothers Strong Families, the program supported mothers whose children were potentially misdiagnosed and who were reluctant to disclose alcohol use.
Yarning circles fostered trust and FASD awareness, enabling culturally appropriate reassessment. As a result, some children received a FASD diagnosis.
UQ researchers called it the most successful trial of its kind, citing authentic data made possible by trust, community engagement and cultural safety.
Team Gindaja: Gindaja Treatment and Healing Indigenous Corporation
Service Excellence & Patient Satisfaction Award
Gindaja’s success is grounded in its Model of Care — a framework integrating five key elements and eight principles delivering culturally safe, continuous support.
A 2017, a Model of Care restructure of Gindaja laid the foundation for eight years of expansion. Gindaja’s cultural knowledge, skills and experience, supported by contemporary practice, is seeing positive benefits for community.
Buoyed by this success, Gindaja has twice commissioned independent analysis of the Model of Care and Gindaja’s efficiency. The findings were striking – on average, the community saw $2 of benefit for every $1 invested.
This evidence has demonstrated to government agencies that Gindaja’s way of operating delivers high return on investment, while also remaining grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing.
