General News
22 June, 2024
Woomelang author named Australian Midwife of the Year
Woomelang’s Skye Stewart says she is still "pinching herself" after claiming the Australian Midwife of the Year title, gaining recognition for her creation of Australia’s first stillbirth support guide for Aboriginal families.
Ms Stewart is a Wemba Wemba and Wergaia midwife and recipient of a Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence Fellowship.
She was awarded the national honour at the HESTA 2024 Australian Nursing and Midwifery Awards.
"I can’t even begin to say how excited I am," Ms Stewart said.
"I feel both very excited and humbled to receive this award and recognition.
"To be awarded the title of ‘Australian Midwife of the Year’ means so much to me and makes me very proud."
Ms Stewart said she hoped her win inspired Indigenous children living in remote and rural communities to follow their dreams and showed them what they could achieve.
"Passion drives people a long way - I know it has to me," Ms Stewart said.
"I could never have imagined little child-me, wild-haired, barefoot and catching yabbies with my brother, one day growing up and becoming recognised as Australian Midwife of the Year."
It was her work for Red Nose Australia that helped Ms Stewart identify a need that was not being met for her people.
This led her to develop Jiba Pepeny ("Star Baby"): a culturally responsive booklet to support First Nations people experiencing the loss of a child.
“We know that as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we are more likely to lose our bubs in labour or pregnancy than our non-Indigenous friends," Ms Stewart said.
"We needed something that was made by us, for us, because our ways of knowing, being and doing are important and central to who we are.”
Ms Stewart recognised and acknowledged the families who shared their devastating and vulnerable stories of infant loss with her.
"It is because of their courage to share, and their desire to make situations easier for others whose babies pass away, that I have been able to create such responsive and welcoming resources," she said.