Melanie is an Aboriginal woman and descend from the Gumbangirr and Dharawal peoples and lives on Wandandian country within the Yuin nation. A mother of two beautiful children, she lives on the New South Wales south coast in Jervis Bay. Melanie grew up in La Perouse on the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and has strong family ties along the east coast from La Perouse to Wreck Bay. Melanie completed a Bachelor of Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney in 2007 and her graduate year at The Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick. She also holds her Master of Primary Maternity Care through Griffith University.
Melanie works at the Waminda South Coast Women’s Health & Welfare Aboriginal Corporation as a Midwife and Birthing on Country Project Officer. Melanie works with Aboriginal families on the south coast of New South Wales within the Yuin nation and is very passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of her people. As the Birthing on Country Project Officer at Waminda, she is responsible for coordinating the Shoalhaven Birthing on Country model from a community perspective to ensure the community voices are being heard and put into practice.