INTHEBLACK July 2025 - Magazine - Page 16
MEMBER PROFILE
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Community Controlled Health Services
in Queensland.
That role gave her invaluable insight
into how Aboriginal Community Controlled
Health Organisations (ACCHOs) operate
and continues to inform her current role,
she says.
“I absolutely loved that job. I learned
so much more about Indigenous health
and the back end of ACCHOs than I ever
thought I would learn. It really helped me
understand the way that Aboriginal medical
service at home operates.”
Thelander also works to spread the word
on the benefits of a career in accounting,
and collaborates with CPA Australia on the
Indigenous Advisory Group in developing
the organisation’s reconciliation action plan.
“I’ve been the chair of the Indigenous
Advancement Committee for almost
two years now and that is really about
looking at how we can increase Indigenous
membership across the profession,” she says.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE
While Thelander lives on the mainland now,
she travels regularly to North Stradbroke
Island to visit her family and volunteer her
services to local businesses who need help
with bookkeeping and general accounting.
“It was always in my mind that whatever
I learned, I brought back to the island.
I really want to help with financial literacy
and upskill people so they can manage
their own finances moving forward,”
Thelander says.
It is a similar purpose that drives her
professional life. One of her biggest
motivators is providing the operational
support to allow her colleagues to deliver
impactful results in their work.
“From a finance perspective, my role
allows me to analyse the quantitative data
and connect it with the narrative, helping
to showcase the impact of the work we’re
doing,” she says.
“Our mission is ‘profit for purpose’. We’re
not a large organisation — but with around
65 to 70 staff across Australia, 60 per cent
of whom are Indigenous, we accomplish
a great deal.”
yamagigu means “our purpose is to go
with you”, which reflects the organisation’s
goal of always seeking more favourable
outcomes for First Nations people across
Australia, Thelander says.
“It is a majority Indigenous-owned,
operated, staffed and led organisation. While
49 per cent ownership sits with Deloitte,
we’re a separate legal entity, which allows
us to be self-determining.”
ONE PIECE OF ADVICE
“Never lose the love of learning,
READ
of becoming
a better colleague
an
article
on
and a better leader. For me,
expanding the
learning
is broad.
It ranges from
pipeline
of
deepening
my knowledge of
Indigenous
accountants
traditional
accounting to
understanding how AI will shape
and enhance my work, to
continuing to learn my Jandai
language, my family's stories
READ
and my
culture.”
an article on how
accountants can
“show up” for
Indigenous
communities
16 INTHEBLACK July 2025
