Indigenous Advisor drives Hall & Prior's Aboriginal care focus

With a wealth of community engagement experience, a network that spans urban and remote Australia and a passion for facilitating relationships and building cultural awareness, Hall & Prior's new Indigenous Advisor, Clayton Lewis, is an asset to our organisation.

Building relationships and respect between the traditional owners of the Perth region where 12 of Hall & Prior's 19 homes are located (known as Whadjuk Country) and Hall & Prior's staff is the focus of Clayton's role, and his many successes since he started with the group in March this year include a successful Whadjuk Traditional Owner's Lunch and providing cultural awareness training for management staff.

Clayton hopes to bridge the gap not only between the traditional owners of the Perth and Swan Valley regions and the Hall & Prior group, but between the many cultures that make up Hall & Prior's resident population.

Before joining Hall & Prior, Clayton spent six years working as a facilitator with the Federal Government's Environment Program - the tip of the iceberg of a diverse and colourful career that has taken him around most of the country.

Local football fans may remember Clayton as a talented football player: he made his league debut in '78 playing for Claremont and later for East Perth, and became a professional football player in country leagues during the 80's, taking the opportunity to travel widely through central and northern Australia.

In 1989, Clayton began a traineeship with ABC Regional Radio which was the start of a diverse and successful media career spanning television, radio and education. His work took him from remote areas of central Australia to Redfern Park, New South Wales, where he managed to snatch a brief interview with the then Prime Minister Keating after he delivered the famous Redfern Address in Sydney in 1992: a speech now regarded as one of the most important Australian speeches of all time.

Hall & Prior welcomes Clayton and the opportunity to build on relationships and respect with our community.