Tibetan Community Award for Burdekin

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You may not know this but the Northern Beaches is home to one of the largest Tibetan communities in Australia. We are very proud to have strong connections to this community reaching back many years.

Recently two of our staff members, Shonette D’Cunha, Head of Client Services and Warren Welsh, Youth Housing Team and Environmental Officer, were guests of the President of the NSW Tibetan Community, Mr Nigan Gotsang.

Warren was officially acknowledged for his long term support of Tibetan youth and received a framed award. Our organisation also received an award for its approach to working with young people. What a wonderful acknowledgement.

Burdekin received awards for generous contribution and support for Tibetan Youth
Left to right – Warren Welsh, Tenzin Rabsel and Shonette D’Cunha

A huge thank you to one of our young tenants, Tenzin Rabsel, for the nomination. The awards acknowledge and recognise what the Tibetan community consider to be Warren’s and Burdekin’s generous contribution and support of Tibetan youth. We are so grateful for the recognition and love working with this wonderful community.

The home cooked traditional Tibetan biscuit snacks were magnificent as was our tea with yak butter, it was a special and uplifting evening.

Tibetans on the Northern Beaches, Australia

If you would like more information about the Tibetan community in Australia and in particular, Tibetans in the Northern Beaches, check out Community Northern Beaches‘ research project from 2019: A Journey From Tibet to Australia supported by the Northern Beaches Council, Settlement Services International’s Innovation Fund, and Macquarie University.

The Department of Health’s Northern Sydney Local Health District accounted for 1,300 Tibetans assisted through their services to July 2019, most of them residing in the Northern Beaches. Similarly, the Tibetan Community of Australia, Sydney, estimated 1,300 to 1,500 Tibetans residing in the Northern Beaches, a figure that matches information obtained from Community Northern Beaches Multicultural and Settlement Services, which registers an increase from 17 Tibetans in 1994 to between 1,300 and 1,500 in 2019.

Tibetan Community Award President of the NSW Tibetan Community Mr Nigan Gotsang, Warren Welsh and Tenzin Rabsel

We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.

We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.

Aboriginal Flag
Torres Straight Island Flag

We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.

We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.