Support to undertake a nursing degree
This scholarship provides financial support to a deserving Indigenous student commencing a Bachelor of Nursing program at Griffith.
Key points
Targeted to
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander nursing students
Value
$6,000
Level of study
Undergraduate
Apply by
4pm Monday 10 March 2025
Scholarship details
Can I apply?
To be eligible, you must:
- be an Australian citizen
- be of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander heritage
- be a first-year commencing student
- have applied for or be intending to enrol full-time in Griffith’s Bachelor of Nursing program in Trimester 1 of this year.
You can apply for this scholarship via our application process.
Application information
We use the following sections of the application to consider you for this scholarship:
Study details
- Program preferences.
Statements
- Personal statement: Outline your community involvement in the local community and detail how this scholarship will support you during your nursing studies and the extent to which the scholarship would make an impact on your life.
Applicants meeting this initial scholarship criteria will be emailed following the closing date to provide a further personal statement. As this scholarship is designed to support the skills development and career pathways for Indigenous people, applicants will be contacted to address the following:
- your potential to significantly benefit from this scholarship and how it will strengthen your development and further your skills and career
- how you will contribute to the development and diversity of our Indigenous community
- how you intend to work toward or build on a sustainable career path.
Value
Maximum value is $6,000 paid in instalments. Instalments of $1,000 are payable for each full-time enrolled trimester up to maximum value of the scholarship or minimum duration of the program, whichever is the lesser.
ATSICHS will also sponsor the recipient's attendance at one CATSINAM conference.
Payment
Payments are made up to six weeks after the census date subject to the recipient satisfying scholarship terms and conditions.
To remain eligible for the scholarship, recipients will be required to:
- remain full time enrolled at Griffith University in the Bachelor of Nursing program
- maintain a minimum GPA of 4
- agree their results will be sent to ATSICHS at the end of each trimester
- agree to be approached by ATSICHS to undertake additional promotional and external activities
- when approached by ATSICHS, provide them with updates that ATSICHS Brisbane and Griffith University can use in promotional activities
- be available for interviews, photo opportunities and provide testimonials and quotes for future programs and media activities for ATSICHS Brisbane and Griffith University including our websites and social media.
The above conditions are verified each trimester at census date. If a scholarship recipient fails to successfully meet these conditions, scholarship payments may be withheld, or the scholarship may be terminated.
Applications must be completed and submitted by the closing date.
Offers are made via email.
Applicants may be shortlisted and be required to provide additional information.
Griffith University reserves the right to withdraw an advertised scholarship at any time.
Donor details
Established in 2013, The Aunty Pamela Mam Indigenous Nursing Scholarship honours her lifelong commitment to Indigenous health. A former long-term employee of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) Brisbane, Aunty Pamela was the first Indigenous nurse to be employed by ATSICHS Brisbane and continued in the organisation for the majority of her working life.
Aunty Pamela Mam is a First Peoples’ Elder, role model, patron and matriarch. She has, for more than 60 years, provided tireless service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the fields of health care and education.
A descendent of the KuKu Yalanji Peoples in the Cooktown area and born in the western Queensland town of Richmond in 1938, Aunty Pamela Mam’s qualities of character and commitment remain undimmed.
She is an inspirational figure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but also for all people. After her mother was removed from Cooktown under the then Australian Government policy of Assimilation for Aboriginal People—infamous forerunner to the Stolen Generation—Aunty Pamela spent her formative years on Palm Island. It was there she first realised her passion for nursing.
Starting as a nurse aid at Palm Island Hospital, Aunty Pamela completed her general training and became a midwife at Brisbane’s Royal Women’s Hospital before joining the Royal Children’s Hospital in 1973.
Along with her husband Uncle Steve Mam, Aunty Pamela began to focus on the urgent health care needs of Australia’s First Peoples. She was integral to the establishment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) in Brisbane in February 1973 where she became the first Indigenous nurse employed by the organisation.
Aunty Pamela’s nursing expertise, together with the administrative and support services delivered through ATSICHS Brisbane proved vital over the ensuing years.
Since its establishment 45 years ago, ATSICHS Brisbane has continued to deliver Aunty Pamela’s vision. Encompassing health, belonging, comfort, empathy and support, the benefits extend throughout the Indigenous communities of greater Brisbane and Logan City.
Aunty Pamela Mam is a life member of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service Brisbane, and Patron of the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health.
In 2018 Griffith conferred upon her a Doctor of Griffith University for her service to her people in health services and to the community.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) Brisbane is a not-for-profit community-owned health and human services organisation delivering on the unique health and wellbeing needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in greater Brisbane and Logan.
The organisation is the largest, most comprehensive Aboriginal medical health service in Queensland and Australia’s second oldest determined to reinstate the wellbeing of its people—person by person, family by family, generation by generation.
The organisation prides itself on providing health and human service their way—supporting their people and community in their ongoing commitment to create a flourishing future and lasting legacy for them and their families.
Founded in 1973, ATSICHS' vision for the future is to be world leaders in Indigenous health and social support services provided in an urban setting.
Start your application
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Get in touch
If you have a question, need some help with your scholarship application, or would like to make a donation, feel free to contact us.