A school teacher from a tiny Tiwi Island town is about to become the first Aborigine living in a remote community to own her own home.
School principal Leah Kerinauia will soon move into her new house in Nguiu, on Bathurst Island, after saving $50,000 for a deposit.
The purchase was made possible because Nguiu signed a 99-year lease with the Howard government in 2007. Nguiu is the only remote Aboriginal community in Australia to have signed up to a 99-year lease.
Ms Kerinauia obtained a low-interest home loan through a statutory body, Indigenous Business Australia, set up by the federal government to support economic independence and home ownership among Indigenous people.
Written on Tuesday, 18 August 2009 13:35 by Nathan Kimber