From a shy, softly spoken teenager to a confident cultural leader, Georgia Clay’s journey at NRL Cowboys House is inspiring her peers and strengthening community connections.
A proud Palm Island local, Georgia has embraced every opportunity that’s come her way since becoming a boarder at the award-winning Townsville-based House late last year.
Driven by her passion for dance and cultural identity, Georgia founded an all-girls Indigenous dance group that has grown from a handful of participants to more than a dozen performers.
“We named the dance group Indigenous Sistas to celebrate our culture and connect us ‘as one’,” Georgia said.
“I had the idea, and asked Miss Rae if she could help me get things started and then more girls kept wanting to join,” she said.
“There are a lot of girls from different communities from across Australia and through different movements and dance we can come together and share our culture with each other and audiences.
“I’m very happy I came to the House because they support you to do better things. Once I came here, I have become more positive, strong, brave and wanting to do all these incredible things I never did before.”
Performing at Queensland Country Bank Stadium for NRL Indigenous Round
Georgia leading the group during their first ever performance at NRL Cowboys House
Georgia was offered ongoing work at Chempro Chemists after completing work experience
“When Georgia first arrived, she was very, very quiet to start with but has definitely come out of her shell,” said NRL Cowboys House Education Manager Raelene Frantz-Davis.
“At the start of this year, she was keen to start a female dance group to showcase Aboriginal culture, and she had some great ideas,” Raelene said.
“Georgia was amazing at establishing the group and once she had two or three girls on board, next minute, there’s twelve and it’s growing every time we have a practice session.
“All of the young ladies in the dance group are amazing, but it wouldn’t have come together if it wasn’t for Georgia’s passion and love for her culture.”
NRL Cowboys House is managed by the Cowboys Community Foundation—the community arm of the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys.It removes distance as a barrier to education by providing a unique, culturally safe boarding experience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to access secondary education in Townsville.
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