To commemorate his late wife’s lifelong commitment to education, Michael Fox opened the Jude Fox Bursary Fund with Australian Communities Foundation.
When school principal Jude Fox passed away in 2018, family, friends, teachers, and students alike attended her memorial service. Outside her funeral, countless cars lined the street; a testament to the impact Jude had on her community.
The founding principal of Flagstone State Community College in Queensland and leader for more than 16 years, Jude was known for her passion for helping students build bright, prosperous futures.
Former business lecturer at Griffith University and Jude’s husband of 42 years, Michael Fox, says Jude was “very generous” and dedicated to providing quality education for all her students.

This is why, three years ago, Michael decided to honour Jude’s memory by establishing a Scholarship Fund with support from Australian Communities Foundation: The Jude Fox Bursary Fund.
“She’d probably think I’m crazy,” says Michael. “But I think she’d be proud of what I’ve set up.”
“Jude was the making of me. She was the reason I ended up going to university. She helped me and stuck with me through some tough times.
“Jude believed in the strength and potential of Flagstone students, too… and the bursary fund is to build on the work she’s done with the school, students, and community,” says Michael.
The Jude Fox Bursary Fund grants $3,000 scholarships to Flagstone State Community College students facing barriers to attending university. Whether it’s due to the cost of travelling to campus, lack of support, or financial constraints.
What’s more, Michael notes, first-generation students may feel overwhelmed by the idea of navigating the higher education system autonomously, and he wants to help them feel confident.
“First-in-family university students don’t always have a support network, and the transition from high school to university is pretty big. I want to empower the students to say ‘look, I want to give this a go. The school believes in me to the extent that they’ve given me this money.
Jude believed in the strength and potential of Flagstone students… the bursary fund is to build on the work she’s done
Successful participants are awarded $2,000 for enrolling at a Queensland-based university and gifted a further $1,000 upon completion of their first year.
Students can spend funds on anything that will help them tackle challenges to partake in university studies, including semester fees, textbooks, equipment, a laptop, or travel costs.
“The idea is to basically say to the student and their family, ‘we believe in you and we’d like you to have the opportunity to see if you like university’.
“A few months into her first semester, one winner decided she didn’t want to continue. She said, ‘well, should I pay the money back?’ But that’s not the deal, the deal is to give them the opportunity to try.”
Image: Past winners of the Jude Fox Bursary Award.
Past scholarship awardees have included a student who worked at a dance studio, another who worked with disabled kids, and a student with a leadership position at the school. And while good grades help, Michael stresses students don’t need outstanding academic results to receive a bursary, saying: “It’s really about attitude.”
Looking forward, Michael plans to continue working with the Australian Communities Foundation grants team to distribute multiple scholarships each year and may expand the program to include a neighbouring high school.
“If a person is doing everything right, let’s give them a go. We’ve designed the financial model to increase in line with inflation. So, I think every five years or so we’ll reset the fund. We currently offer two bursaries a year, and then perhaps down the track we’ll increase to four.”
I want to empower the students to say ‘look, I want to give this a go. The school believes in me’.
For the time being, Michael is content to continue working with Jude’s Flagstone College students, while also honouring her memory in other ways.
“I’m going to plant roses in our garden for her,” he says. “Camp David – her favourite.”
You can make a donation to the Jude Fox Bursary Fund here. Donations to scholarship funds are non-tax-deductible.
“Investing in our mob in this way is powerful, the belief in the inherent potential of individuals as changemakers,” explains Peter Aldenhoven, a proud descendant of the peoples of Quandamooka in Queensland.
Aldenhoven speaks from experience. Named an Emerging Leader by the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership in 2017-18, Aldenhoven is Executive Officer / Men’s Business at Willum Warrain on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and previously headed up Australia’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-led philanthropic fund: Koondee Woonga-gat Toor-rong.
“The Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership believes in empowerment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through leadership,” Aldenhoven continues.
“Receiving the award personally was an endorsement of my work, my family and my mob. It was a deadly opportunity and came with significant responsibility.”
The Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership aims to “empower Indigenous leaders to focus their drive and energy in areas that have been identified by Victoria’s Indigenous community as being of importance” by providing financial support, networking opportunities and professional development.
The catalyst for the Fellowship was a discussion over lunch between four civic-minded business associates in 2002 about how they might better support a local Indigenous leader they greatly admired, Yorta Yorta man Paul Briggs OAM.
“Paul is such an amazing leader,” says Maree Davidson AM, who was one of the four people present at the discussion. “He re-established the Rumbalara Football Netball Club as more than a sporting club – his vision was to create it as a vehicle for improved health and wellbeing, economic independence, strengthening of cultural identity and pride and as a contributor to regional development.
“He also started Australia’s first Indigenous credit union, he set up employment programs, he was behind what is now the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. Anywhere you looked across Indigenous education, employment or health he was there initiating and innovating.”
“We knew that Paul was trying to hold down a full-time job as a public servant and we wondered what might happen if we pooled our resources and found some more money so that Paul could be paid a living wage for five years so that he could focus on achieving the vision he had for the Indigenous community.”
The group set up the Sir Doug Nicholls sub-fund (named after Paul’s mentor and role model) with Australian Communities Foundation (then Melbourne Community Foundation). The sub-fund was re-named Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership in 2007.
“We had absolute faith, trust and belief in Paul,” Davidson says. “He didn’t have to put in a proposal or report to us every month. We were investing in him and his vision and that’s what we’ve continued to do with our Fellows and Emerging Leaders.”
A year after establishing the Fellowship, the four founders progressed the initial conversation and widened their ambitions.
“We were having lunch again,” Davidson recalls, “and we said, ‘This seems to be not a bad idea. What if we put a call out to see if there’s another Fellow?’ So, we did, and we received quite a few applications. There were some people who were at established leadership levels like Paul and there were other applications from people who were much earlier in their leadership path but we could see real potential.”
That year, after attracting additional funders, Daphne Yarram was named a Fellow and Belinda Duarte and Trevor Pearce become the Fellowship’s first Emerging Leaders.
“With the Emerging Leaders, who are appointed for a year, it’s about helping them achieve their vision any way we can, for instance making introductions, bringing them into different networks or helping them build their leadership skills and experience through a project that is of benefit to their community.
“Ultimately, our interest for the Fellowship is in supporting the leadership capacity and capability of Victoria’s First Nations community.”
For Davidson, who is stepping down from the Fellowship in early 2020 after 17 years, flexibility has been an integral part of the Fellowship’s success.
“One of the things we hear from our alumni that they value most about the Fellowship is that belief. That we have faith and trust in them and that we’re there for them.
“One of the biggest success factors is that the Fellowship is relationship-based; it’s all about people.”

Photo credit: Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership
For educator and Yorta Yorta woman Kathryn Coff, who was named an Emerging Leader in 2017-18, the value of those relationships cannot be underestimated.
“Having that acknowledgement of the work that I do at the cultural interface was really important, it felt like a very safe and supported place,” she says.
“The Fellowship gave me the opportunity to form relationships and have experiences that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
“It gave me the opportunity to see the bigger picture and the ability to work with other Indigenous people who are working in this space. Honestly, when I received the award it felt like I was in a room full of movie stars: these are all the people I look up to. It was really healing and enabled me to keep moving forward. Sometimes you just need someone to believe in you.”
Since being named an Emerging Leader, Coff’s valuable perspective and teaching experience led to a specially created position at La Trobe University as an Indigenous Practitioner in Residence which still enables her to work in community, which is something she says she “would never give up.”
Ngarra Murray, an Emerging Leader in 2009-10, is a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung who has worked within the Melbourne Aboriginal community for more than two decades. As well as being a passionate artist, Murray is National Manager for Oxfam’s First Peoples’ Program, is a board member at the Nicholls Foundation, and a member of both the National NAIDOC Committee and the Victorian First Peoples’ Assembly.
“The Fellowship is a unique and diverse network that is making significant and positive impacts in our community,” Murray says.
“The Fellowship has been a great support over the years and helped me to achieve my aspirations in my personal and professional life. My learnings with the Fellowship have allowed me to transform the way I think about leadership and broaden my awareness and perspective beyond my community. It’s changed the way I exercise my leadership and my approach, and it’s pushed me to test how and why you lead.”
In February 2020, the Fellowship’s newly created Executive Director position will be filled by a member of the First Nations community, Katrina Mohamed.
“It’s now time for others to have the opportunity to shape the Fellowship’s future and support its work,” Davidson says.
“Philanthropy is changing but I think we still need more investment in our First Nations people who are the catalysts and who will be the ones leading or driving the social change.”
Learn more about how you can support the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership.
The Sally Isaac Memorial Scholarship Fund has recognised the work of Melbourne-based gender equality advocate Siobhan Hardiman, awarding her with a $10,000 scholarship to further her study into gender-transformative practice and its role in the prevention of violence against women.
The Fund, which was established in 2009 to recognise the enormous contribution made by local government leader Sally Isaac, awards annual scholarships to further the education of young women making significant contributions to the Victorian community.
The selection panel this year was struck by Siobhan’s dedication to, and genuine passion for, her work in gender transformative practice—an approach to preventing violence against women and promoting gender equality that recognises we must first transform practices, norms, and structures around gender.
In its comments about the deliberation process, the panel noted: “Siobhan’s determination, commitment, and enthusiasm for her work are so well aligned with the scholarship’s values.
“Her work in gender transformative practice is so important to our communities right now and is being undertaken in a way that is sustainable and able to be owned by the community—something that is always so crucial for local government projects.”
Siobhan began her career as a counsellor and case manager before joining Monash City Council as a youth worker in 2010. Siobhan now leads the Youth Services team within the Council.
In 2016, Siobhan started the Young Women’s Leadership Program as a partnership initiative between Monash Youth Services and the City of Monash. The program engages young women from migrant and refugee backgrounds and supports them as they build their leadership skills and confidence in a peer-learning environment. Past participants have consistently reported increases in their confidence to apply for educational and career opportunities.
Since receiving funding from VicHealth through its Bright Futures Challenge program, Siobhan and her team have been assisting two other Victorian councils implementing the program within their own cities.
In reviewing Siobhan’s application, members of the Fund’s panel were particularly impressed with this breadth of experience.
“Her career progression from ‘on-the-ground’ practice to systems and strategy level shows a true understanding and appreciation of the issues she now plans to address in her PhD.
“Siobhan has a clear plan for how the scholarship will help her to continue giving a platform to young people and helping them to grow and achieve in a safe space as they navigate their way in the world.”
With the support of the scholarship, Siobhan now plans to begin her PhD in 2020 to further her research into the ways initiatives such as the Young Women’s Leadership Program can shift attitudes around gender and towards women in particular—an undertaking she wasn’t sure was possible before receiving the award.
“If there’s one thing to say about winning the award, it’s that I couldn’t do any of this work without the fund,” Siobhan says. “Pursuing this research would be beyond my capacity.
“Sally’s work and her legacy fund have given me a way forward to keep doing the work for the communities I love.
“It is an honour to be connected to her name.”
The Sally Isaac Memorial Scholarship Fund is a scholarship fund at Australian Communities Foundation.
Last month, University of Melbourne hosted its annual Melbourne School of Design Dean’s Honours Awards where three students Tet Way Chen, Jason Leung and Carey Landwehr were presented with awards only made possible by the contributions from DesignInc, ACF’s legacy fund Green Cities Innovation Fund and Tarkett Australia. The Green Cities Innovation Fund is now closed but still achieving the intended impact of the donor: promoting sustainable living.
Philanthropic support to the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning allows the Dean and the Faculty’s Executive to direct income into areas where it will have the greatest impact. In the words of award recipient Carey Landwehr:
“I would like to thank DesignInc, the Australian Communities Foundation and Tarkett Australia for making this award possible. Awards such as this help to reinforce the need for holistic thinking in regards to the built environment and the role of architecture alongside other disciplines in both environmental as well as cultural sustainability and regeneration.
It is a great honour and privilege to be considered worthy of such an award (especially given the calibre of other entrants) and helps to strengthen my personal belief in the importance of tackling difficult problems (design or other) with not only due-diligence but also a strong holistic framework and an open mind.
I hope that my project is the first of many within a long multidisciplinary career, with a direct focus on the ability for architecture and design to not only be regenerative, but to also seek solutions to the difficult questions of our times.”