Idemitsu's Boggabri Coal Mine has won an NSW Minerals Council award with a film about Kamilaroi culture, titled The Kamilaroi.
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The team at Boggabri coal accepted the Community Excellence award at the NSW Minerals Council's 2019 Health, Safety, Environment and Community Conference Awards last night.
Made with members of the Kamilaroi nation, the 20-minute film portrays the Dreamtime stories and the cultural traditions of the Kamilaroi. The mine's staff hosted screenings of the film to the public and has given a copy to all local schools to raise awareness of the area's rich Indigenous connection.
The mine won the award as it was a "world-class example of a mining company investing in a project to highlight the significance of and cultural connection to 'country' by traditional owners", according to the NSW Minerals Council.
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Hamish Russell, who oversaw the project on behalf of Boggabri Coal, was appreciative of the Kamilaroi people who helped with the film.
"I'd like to thank the Kamilaroi people who chose to bravely share their knowledge and stories on camera enabling us to come up with the 20-minute-high quality, highly informative, emotionally evocative production that we subsequently named after them," Mr Russell said.
At the same event, Whitehaven Coal's Narrabri mine won the Health Excellence award for its trial of new gumboots.
In response to reports of foot, ankle and leg pain from the 300 strong workforce at the Narrabri underground mine, the mine approached Gunnedah-based podiatrist Penny Crawford to design footwear which could replace the current gumboots that the miners were using.
Ms Crawford developed the WedgeTech Personalised Lock-Fit System, which works by locking the foot into a stable position in the boot. Multiple trials were conducted with the new boots and there was plenty of positive feedback.
Whitehaven Coal now plans to introduce these new boots more broadly on site and educate its workplace about proper footwear.