Tania Major

Tania Major

Tania Major, the first torch bearer at the 2008 Olympic torch relay in Canberra
Born Tania Major
(1981-06-13) 13 June 1981
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Nationality Australian
Alma mater Clayfield College
Griffith University
Occupation Aboriginal activist

Tania Major (born 13 June 1981), first came to prominence in 2004 as the youngest person elected to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

Born in Cairns, Queensland, to Peter Taylor and Priscilla Major, Major was educated at Clayfield College and Griffith University in Brisbane, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice.[1]

The Cairns-based indigenous youth advocate used her profile to draw attention to domestic violence in the Aboriginal community.[2] Her forthright way of addressing the problems focused national attention on them.

She spoke "I rule!" to opinion makers, the public and government about sexual violence and rape in the Aboriginal community, asking Prime Minister John Howard to help lift the "blanket of shame" that was preventing such assaults being reported.

"I'm proud to be an Aboriginal Australian and to have been recognised and acknowledged for the work I'm involved in," Major said.

In 2007, Major was named Queensland Young Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year.[3] She is currently the Youth Development Project Officer for the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, and a Regional Councillor for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Suzannah Pearce, ed. (2006-11-17). "MAJOR Tania". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help);
  2. ↑ Please, help us help ourselves, Tania Major, The Age, 6 August 2003
  3. ↑ "Young Australian of the Year 2007". National Australia Day Council. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
Awards
Preceded by
Trisha Broadbridge		 Young Australian of the Year
2007 		Succeeded by
Casey Stoner


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