Kahlia Rogers is a jack of all trades – not only is the Walmajarri woman a superstar trainee at our Fitzroy Crossing site, but she recently attended Garma Festival as a panellist, walked the runway at Country to Couture and won Kimberley Girl in Broome. At such a young age she has already become a leader and role model in her community, showing young girls just how high you can soar.
Kahlia’s journey started small, living and going to primary school in a small remote community in Fitzroy Crossing. From there she branched out, attending the Yiramalay/Wesley Studio School, located around 90km northwest of Fitzroy Crossing. It was during her time at Yiramalay that she commuted back and forth between the remote community and Melbourne, Victoria, where she attended Wesley College. Doing this for three years was “extremely rewarding,” she said, “but it also made me realise that whilst I wanted an education, I also wanted to work in my own community and help the local kids there.”
The Kimberley Girl program, a leadership program held in Broome that aims to instigate positive change in personal and professional capacity of young Indigenous women, launched in 2004 to showcase the amazing Indigenous women we have in our community. Kahlia entered in 2020, winning the competition. This was a pivotal moment for her as she wanted to enter to show the girls across the Fitzroy Valley what was possible and what you can achieve.
In the same year, Kahlia also walked in the Country to Couture Runway Festival. She was a part of the Fitzroy Crossing Marnin (women) Studio at the time and the team were approached to contribute to the festival, modelling the clothes and showcasing a range of Indigenous designers and art centres from not only the Kimberley, but from around Australia.
The theme for this years’ Garma Festival, Australia’s premier Indigenous Cultural Exchange, was Nhana Nathilyurra (look ahead towards the future). Kahlia attended as a panellist on behalf of her high school, Yiramalay, and shared her experience within the education system and the barriers that she as an Indigenous woman had to overcome. Her journey ultimately led her to Shooting Stars, a program that is empowering Aboriginal girls and women throughout their own education journey’s. Working within the program, supporting Aboriginal girls within her own community of Fitzroy Crossing, has been an extremely rewarding experience for Kahlia, who views the program as “making a real difference to the girls, helping them stay in class and get to school.”
Credit: Jalaru Photography and Design, Indigenous Fashion Project, Injalak Arts