November–December 2015 23A
MELIA ‘MILLIE’ Telford is no
ordinary 21-year-old. Instead
of spending her days with her
nose buried in university textbooks,
she works in a busy Melbourne office,
giving advice to young Aboriginal
people all over the country.
In 2013, while working with the
Australian Youth Climate Coalition
(AY C C), Amelia raised funds to create
the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate
Network, an organisation that
supports Aboriginal people aged
under 30 who want to participate in
environmental debates. It was an
effort that saw the young Bundjalung
woman become the joint NAIDOC
Youth of the Year in 2014. She is
talking to an increasingly important
demographic; more than half of allSowing the seed
Amelia Telford, our 2015 Young Conservationist
of the Year, has created an environmental network
that has given a voice to Aboriginal youth.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people are under 25, and world
governments are recognising that
remote and rural indigenous commu-
nities are among those most affected
by climate change (see AG 103).
“We’re filling a gap that no-one
has really been working on,” Amelia
says. “The way that we’re doing it
alongside the AY C C, a non-indige-
nous organisation, is unique because
we’re seeing indigenous and non-
indigenous young people working
together; we’re so much more
powerful...because of that.”
Anna Rose, co-founder of the
AY C C, and the AG Society’s 2014
Conservationist of the Year, heard of
Amelia’s campaigning power before
the Lismore-based high school captainhad even graduated. When Amelia put
off taking up a place as a medical
student at the University of New
South Wales to volunteer in the
environmental sector, the AY C C
offered her a role as its indigenous
and diversity coordinator.
The 120,000-member-strong
AY C C is one of Australia’s largest
youth-run organisations, but Amelia
quickly realised that the key to
increasing Aboriginal participation
was to create an independent body.
“At the time, we weren’t working
particularly closely with indigenous
young people,” she explains.
However, since its launch in 2014,
Seed has rapidly taken root. “There’s
been an incredible response from our
elders and community members,”
Amelia says. “They realise that we
need young people who have the
privilege of being more open-minded
and positive, and can learn from the
struggles [of]... generations before us.”
Seed has trained 50 youth repre-
sentatives in public speaking and
media and project management. They
are now participating in important
debates concerning the effects of
sea-level rise on the Torres Strait, and
in negotiations with Aboriginal
landholders in Queensland regarding
what could become the country’s
largest coal mine.
Indeed, Amelia will soon be taking a
road trip from Townsville to Brisbane
to visit communities and “amplify their
voice” in the run-up to the UN climate
change negotiations in France in
December 2015. Although climate
change is a major focus, other youth
advocates are raising awareness around
local environmental issues, she says.
According to Anna, Amelia has
played a groundbreaking role in
building a movement of young
campaigners. “They are effective in
their own right, but are also challeng-
ing the rest of the environmental
movement to be more so,” she says.
“What Millie has done is really
reinforce that environmentalism is
about people and culture, and our
connection to the land. That’s been a
huge gift to the whole movement.”
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KIERNAN IRONFIELD