Latest news with #Wadawurrung
ABC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Actor and disability advocate Chloé Hayden is learning to prioritise what matters
Unwind with… is a regular column that explores the simple ways interesting people take care of themselves through periods of change or upheaval. Actor and disability advocate Chloé Hayden lives in regional Victoria on Wadawurrung Country. The 27-year-old stars as Quinni on Heartbreak High, with the show's third and final season streaming this year. Chloé says the entertainment industry is exciting to work in, but it's "also really difficult when you're neurodivergent and rely so heavily on routine". Chloé was diagnosed as autistic in her adolescence and lives with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), endometriosis and adenomyosis. "I'm a lot better at looking after and respecting my neurodivergent brain," she says. "I don't yet have the same grace for a sick body." But she's learning to rest and make room for what she loves beyond work. When I go out to be with my horses is probably when I feel the happiest. Or, when I let myself relax. Not the pretend relaxing where I'm telling my body that we're relaxing but my brain is going over a million things that I must do or that I'm feeling ...when I'm just reading a book or playing a video game, truly being-in-the-moment relaxing. Since getting [the role of Quinni], my horses were put on the back burner. That was very scary and honestly caused a pretty big identity crisis. I'm a competitive horse rider and I can't train my horses up knowing that I might have to [be called back to work before a competition]. I just went,"well, I guess I just won't do anything with them because there's too much emotion and heartbreak if I have to [leave for work] again". I was then really confused when I was sad and anxious all the time. I sat down and I spoke to some people, and I realised that there was no reason why I couldn't have both. I just wasn't prioritising things that I needed to prioritise. I'm still trying to figure it out and learn when I need to stop. I'm also trying to learn when I need to accept help from other people. I know what does help is switching off and respecting when my body is giving me signals to stop and taking that time off to rest. Lying on the couch with my cats all over me and playing a video game and letting my husband look after me completely, giving in to going "you're not broken or wrong, you don't hold less value or worth because you're letting someone help you out". I can't cook to save myself, but my husband knows my safe [comfort] foods. My mum's dal recipe is a big safe food. If I'm having a shitty day, he usually knows before I do. He'll make sure that I'm eating and drinking throughout the day because it will get worse if I'm not looking after my physical body. I love being in the bush, I love having open fields around me, I love being away from everyone and being able to see the stars at night and being able to have all of my horses surrounding me. You couldn't convince me to ever live in the city.
The Age
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
‘Death of a family member': government sued over dingo killing
The cultural connection between First Nations groups and dingoes will be tested in the Supreme Court of Victoria, which will consider a legal challenge to a state-sanctioned killing program in June. Animals Australia is suing the Victorian government over its 2024 decision to 'unprotect' dingoes in the north-east of the state, alleging the decision is in breach of Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, which seeks to protect Aboriginal people's 'distinct cultural rights'. Dingoes are a threatened species in Victoria and, as such, the government is required to make orders removing their protected status to allow landholders to kill the animals. Under the charter, it is unlawful for public authorities to act in a way that is incompatible with a human right, or fail to properly consider relevant human rights when making a decision. Last March, the Victorian government ended an 'unprotection order' in place for Big Desert dingoes, which had allowed them to be killed on public land. Departmental advice provided to Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos in September, and released under freedom of information laws, shows there could be just 16 adults of breeding age left in the district. But Dimopouolos and Agriculture Minister Ros Spence kept an unprotection order in place for dingoes in the east and north-east of the state, despite Traditional Owner groups stressing the animals hold cultural and spiritual significance to First Nations peoples. The Environment Department says about 1000 sheep are killed or maimed by dingoes each year in Victoria's east. Wadawurrung woman Kelly Ann Blake – who has a pet dingo, Jack – joined the Animals Australia legal challenge to the unprotection order as a co-litigant.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Death of a family member': government sued over dingo killing
The cultural connection between First Nations groups and dingoes will be tested in the Supreme Court of Victoria, which will consider a legal challenge to a state-sanctioned killing program in June. Animals Australia is suing the Victorian government over its 2024 decision to 'unprotect' dingoes in the north-east of the state, alleging the decision is in breach of Victoria's Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, which seeks to protect Aboriginal people's 'distinct cultural rights'. Dingoes are a threatened species in Victoria and, as such, the government is required to make orders removing their protected status to allow landholders to kill the animals. Under the charter, it is unlawful for public authorities to act in a way that is incompatible with a human right, or fail to properly consider relevant human rights when making a decision. Last March, the Victorian government ended an 'unprotection order' in place for Big Desert dingoes, which had allowed them to be killed on public land. Departmental advice provided to Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos in September, and released under freedom of information laws, shows there could be just 16 adults of breeding age left in the district. But Dimopouolos and Agriculture Minister Ros Spence kept an unprotection order in place for dingoes in the east and north-east of the state, despite Traditional Owner groups stressing the animals hold cultural and spiritual significance to First Nations peoples. The Environment Department says about 1000 sheep are killed or maimed by dingoes each year in Victoria's east. Wadawurrung woman Kelly Ann Blake – who has a pet dingo, Jack – joined the Animals Australia legal challenge to the unprotection order as a co-litigant.
