8 July 2025

The Leisure Therapy team at the Royal Talbot has proudly hosted Morning Tea for Culture to support the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) since 2020. This year’s event was extra special as for the first time in six years, Austin Health hosted the morning tea as an official Ambassador of VACCA!

VACCA is Victoria’s peak voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and provides support to children, young people, families, and community members. Austin Health's partnership with VACCA aligns with our commitment to reconciliation, cultural safety, and closing the gap in health outcomes.

VACCA’s Morning Tea for Culture is an opportunity to gather and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, enjoy a yarn, connect with your community, and raise vital funds for Aboriginal children in care.

This year’s event featured guest speaker Jimmy Kyle – a proud Thungutti Goori man, lead singer of the band Chasing Ghosts, a public speaker and an educator who delivers cultural awareness training. Through his workshops, Kyle shares his lived experience and deep knowledge of Aboriginal history to foster understanding and reconciliation. Through Chasing Ghosts, Kyle uses music to explore themes of trauma, survival, and identity, with songs like “Summer” highlighting stories from his community.

“We started hosting this morning tea during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The team had just completed the Cultural Safety Training on ATLAS together, as a way of connecting to the topic and were reflecting on how we could embed culturally safe practices into our work. This sparked rich discussions and led to a quality improvement project focused on respectfully asking, “Are you Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?”—a simple but powerful step toward providing inclusive care,” shares Salvatore Dema, Manager Leisure and Creative Therapies.

“While exploring ways to deepen our impact, we came across VACCA’s Morning Tea for Culture initiative, and it felt like the perfect fit. Hosting these morning teas has become more than a fundraiser for us — it is a celebration of culture, community, and continuous learning. I encourage everyone to host their own Morning Tea for Culture. It is a fun way to connect and increase understanding of Aboriginal culture,” adds Sal.

Funds raised at the morning tea go towards supporting VACCA’s cultural programs which provide children in foster, kinship, and residential care with meaningful ways to stay connected to culture, identity, and community.

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