Kayshun Murray with Gold Road General Manager Corporate Sharon Goddard and Gold Road Executive Director Justin Osborne,
Gold Industry Group founding member and leading Western Australian gold developer and explorer Gold Road Resources made one footy-mad 12-year old from the remote Cosmo Newberry Aboriginal Community's dream come true on the weekend, winning the trip of a lifetime to Melbourne.
Kayshun Murray won a competition, sponsored by Gold Road and open to all children of Yilka descent, in which they were asked to draw a picture or write a story summarising “what Australian Rules football means to me”. Kayshun’s winning entry was a picture describing football in relation to family, fitness and teamwork.
The prize was an all-expenses paid trip for Kayshun and a guardian to attend the AFL Indigenous Round showpiece “Dreamtime At The ‘G” match between Richmond and Essendon on Saturday night, with tickets kindly provided by the Essendon Football Club. Kayshun also attended a training session and was taken on a tour the Essendon Club facilities on the Friday before the game. He then attended a second game between the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood on Sunday.
The pair also attended the Korin Gamadji Institute's open day at Richmond’s Punt Road facilities. This organisation is focused on providing education, training and leadership, and career development for indigenous people across Australia.
This was the first time Kayshun has travelled outside of Western Australia, and also his first AFL game at the famous MCG.
Gold Road Executive Director Justin Osborne said: “It is great to be able to provide one of the young Aboriginal children from Cosmo Newberry with the opportunity to attend the Dreamtime game. As a Richmond supporter myself I have attended this game in the past and experienced the tremendous celebration of our country’s Indigenous Culture. The Yilka People love their footy and for Kayshun to be able to say he has been to a packed out MCG for this special game is something I am sure he will remember for a long time.”
Cosmo Newberry is the nearest community to Gold Road’s Gruyere Gold Project, currently the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Australia. Twelve of the 60 Cosmo Newberry residents are school-aged children with a keen interest in football.
Gold Road provides the community with support in various ways, including sponsoring former West Coast Eagle Daniel Kerr to go to the community to run education programmes aimed at encouraging school attendance and exercise. This programme has been very successful to date and been received enthusiastically by the kids at Cosmo.