Twenty-year-old Dallas Burgess is the Aboriginal Justice Coordinator at Red Cross in lutruwita/ Tasmania.

In this role, his primary focus is the Volunteering for Change program which promotes health and wellbeing and supports prisoners to develop new skills for their prison community and life after prison. As part of this work, Dallas along with the Tasmanian Justice team have been instrumental in introducing a therapy dog for inmates in the women’s prison and are in the final stages of introducing a narcotics anonymous program.

In his work with prisoners, Dallas also provides a vital cultural overlay for Aboriginal people in the Tasmanian justice system,bridging the gap between prisoners and the wider Aboriginal community.

As a young Pakana man, Dallas only recently began to learn about his Aboriginal lineage and story. Although he has always identified as First Nations, his family has been distanced from their culture, and it wasn’t until he was in high school that he started to become curious about where he came from. “It might sound strange, but it feels like I’ve been spiritually drawn to my culture” he says.

At 18, Dallas took a leap and started attending Tasmanian Aboriginal community events and volunteering at the Aboriginal Men’s Shed in Chigwell. It was through this community learning and volunteering, that Dallas began to understand the power of sharing stories and speaking up.

In his volunteering role at the Men’s Shed, Dallas supported First Nations men to talk about their feelings, facilitating and participating in weekly sessions as well as camps on Bruny Island, Cape Baron Island, and Big Dog Island. This work was about giving men a chance to share and be vulnerable, “it was a space for us to talk about our stories and our history. My knowledge was stolen from me, and these men got that.”

During this time, while working multiple jobs as labourer, as a removalist and in a fast-food restaurant, Dallas realised that he was passionate about helping people. When he saw the Aboriginal Justice Coordinator role come up at Red Cross, he knew this was his opportunity to make real change. And he believes that being a young person is on his side, “I have a different way of thinking and a different way of connecting to people because of that.”

And as far as what this role has brought to Dallas’s life? “It allows me to be me... and at the end of the day us blackfellas don’t get that a lot.

If you’d like to get involved with Red Cross and help us make a difference, head to our Youth Hub to check out all the ways you can join the movement.