Volume 195 - Issue 2
The Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Competition: changing the world, one story at a time
Author: Ruth Armstrong
Med J Aust 2011; 195 (2): 97. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb03221.x
Published online: 18 July 2011
Published online: 18 July 2011
The life and work of Dr Ross Ingram (1967–2003) have inspired many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to send their stories and ideas to the Medical Journal of Australia. It was with much pleasure, therefore, that we welcomed three members of Ross’s family to the presentation of the Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Prizes, at the National Conference of the Australian Medical Association, in Brisbane on 27 May 2011. Ross’s partner, Julie Neville, presented the prizes on behalf of the Australasian Medical Publishing Company.
The Competition now has two categories: best essay, and best original artwork. It took us a few years, but the MJA editors finally realised that words are not everything — images can tell powerful stories too!
Lindy Moffatt, a Wakka-Wakka, Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr woman with family ties to both Cherbourg, Queensland, and Grafton on the North Coast of New South Wales, won the essay category, for her story, “Mental illness or spiritual illness: what should we call it?”.
Lindy has worked extensively in community work and counseling, and is now an Indigenous Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Her essay vividly describes her son’s journey with mental illness, and explores the effects of transgenerational trauma on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It was published in the 16 May 2011 issue of the Journal.
Also published in the 16 May 2011 issue, were an excerpt from, and a link to, the winning artwork: an animation called “Alfie the tooth fairy”. Accepting the prize in this category was Alison Dimer, a senior woman of the Madawonga-Galagoo people, the Fire People of the Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia.
In her role as an Aboriginal Health Worker, Alison produced the animation for the Western Desert Kidney Health Project of the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia. She worked with animation artist Steven Aiton, local artist Catherine Howard and the children at three local schools to produce the piece, which uses an engaging story to promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Entries for next year’s Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Competition are currently open. For full details see http://www.mja.com.au/public/information/RossIngramCompetition.html.
