Christine Beale

My name is Christine I'm a proud Bunjalung and Kamilaroi women, I live in Mount Druitt born and raise I'm connected within my community and just want to see Indigenous mob to succeed.

I started as an Indigenous Trainee in 2019 when i was 15, I was working at the Commonwealth bank branch at Plumpton 1 day a week where I've build up my skills and also going to school to complete my HSC. When I graduated High School i got offered to be a fulltime Trainee to complete my Certificate III in Financial Services which was amazing because I've built bond with people within the branch and also wanted to learn more skills within the bank.

In 2021 I got offered a permit role within CBA and not as a traineeship. The role was a Customer Support Assistant where i was supporting every branch within the Penrith area doing customer service and opening account, credit card and personal more complex's stuff, i built all my knowledge in that role and felt like a career change as i felt i could do more.

2022 August I started as a Home Lending Specialist as a part of Flex's Lender Academy which was an all women learning to become a Mobile lender I've learnt so much about lending and the whole process which is really great because now i have a knowledge of the home lending process.

During Flex's Academy i did a secondment for 4 months for Retail Lending Associate which was doing the background work for the lender so loan maintenances making sure lender has all the accurate information for customer loan and doing a document checklist to make sure that all documents are imaged.

My biggest accomplishment in life is learning about my culture with World Vision who has an program called Young Mob which is a program that started up in my school when i was in year 7. Young Mob teaches you about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture. I was very fortunate to go on many cultural camps where going on to country and learning about natural resources from the land they used in the past which i thought was amazing experiences because I've learnt so much and meant amazing people.

2018 I got selected to go on camp to Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands, this camp was an eye opener as i didn't know anything about the murri culture as it's very different to koori culture, I went onto country in North Queensland and actually camped and ate off the land which i thought was a great experience. After camping and learning about the mob in North Queensland we flew to the Torres Strait Island, were we stayed on Thursday Island, we went straight to the school after we got the boat, the schooling there was very shocking because there school was small and learnt that primary and high school are on different Islands but also i was so used to a really big school with a massive football felid to play where there school was the size of the football field, the one thing i loved is the culture is very strong in the Torres Strait Island. During my time in TSI i got to go to Murray Island (Mer Island) which is the home of Eddie Mabo, amazing experience i got to actually visit where he is buried was very beautiful place. The TSI taught me so much and that trip held a special place in my heart.

2019- World Vision asked me to represent all the children of Australia in the Philippines at the TRIENNIAL COUNCIL, the focus was to End Violence against children globally were 350 leaders across 53 countries came together to listen 12 children to talk about the violence against children. I was very excited when world vision asked me to talk on behalf of Australia to raise awareness, during that time there was a lot police brutality with Indigenous people especially in NT they locked up an 14 year old boy and was treated very unfairly in police custody in my speech i thought about the change i can make by informing people globally about the violence that indigenous children face not only in police custody but in society, i did get compliments from a lot of people saying how powerful my speech was which i was grateful for because i felt like i was really heard as a child. During this experience i meant people from Romania, Nicaragua, Africa and many other countries and we all share something special the need to make people aware about the problems that are happening in our country, this experience will forever change my prospective of life because listening to everyone stories touched me.

Today I still keep in contact with world vision in Australia because they have a lot of cultural programs that are really amazing.