” Every workday morning for the past 8 and half years I have been in the office at 6.30 am to produce and publish this Aboriginal Health News Alert.

But tomorrow 31 July 2020 will be my last day as I have just announced my retirement from NACCHO to take up a role of mentor . (see part 2 below )

Since 1970 when I started advertising at Channel 10 I have had over 50 years extensive national and international media experience specifically in the last thirty years in Indigenous communication.

This includes Torres News (Editor), ICC Torres Strait (PR), Arrernte Council Alice Springs (media advisor), Congress ACCHO / CAAMA (radio production), KOORI MAIL (contributor) , PMC Canberra (Indigenous communication), Department of Health Canberra (Indigenous communication), NITV (NACCHO TV series).

With this background I was honoured to develop a wide range of internet based communication platforms over the past 8 years to ensure the positive work of NACCHO and its members to Close the Gap was better recognised and supported by all sides of politics and the broader community.

I thank you for your support over years.”

Colin Cowell Social Media Editor NACCHO 2012-2020

Contact email

Follow on Twitter @ColinCowell

Or Contact 0401 331 251 

History of NACCHO Social media 2012-2020

Back in March 2012 the NACCHO CEO at the time Donna Ah Chee and the board had a need to improve the understanding and communication with the main groups involved  in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy process: government, politicians, academics, stakeholders, the media and the community sector.

As part of NACCHO’s 2012 Strategic plan social media was identified as an effective means of communicating key corporate objectives to connect, engage and inform members, their communities and stakeholders into the future.

NACCHO wanted to use social media to keep a focus on the battle to  ” Close the Gap within a generation”  and to ensure governments at all levels addressed the wide range of social issues faced by many Aboriginal Australians.

NACCHO’s social media communications strategy then supported these objectives:

• Promoting, developing and expanding the provision of health and wellbeing services through local Aboriginal Community controlled Health services.
• Liaison with organisations and governments within both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community on health and wellbeing policy and planning issues.
• Representation and advocacy relating to health service delivery, health information, research, public health, health financing and health programs.
• Fostering cooperative partnerships and working relationships with agencies that respect Aboriginal community control and holistic concepts of health and wellbeing.

The depth and complexity of our Aboriginal controlled health services provided to our communities and the professionalism of the staff across all member services is inspirational and it is that message NACCHO went on to share with the broader non-Aboriginal community in the social media space now totaling approx. 65,000 followers on all our social media platforms

Highlights of my NACCHO contributions 2012-2020

1.New NACCHO website: In 2012 and 2014 designed and edited a new corporate website www.naccho.org.au that was full of Aboriginal health content, history and about NACCHO’s role as the national authority to reform, promote and research.

2.New Daily Aboriginal Health News Alert site: Since established in 2012 I have I published 3,053 communiques shared daily with 5,822  readers / subscribers and in addition had over 1,159,000 views

Example : Since January 2020 we have published over 90 COVID-19 Aboriginal Health Alerts 

3.Integration : All content at the time was integrated with the NACCHO website by subject and had the ability to be shared in all social media platforms.

4.Established new NACCHO Branding: Designed a new corporate branding for all communications

5.Established new NACCHO Twitter account: Developed one of the most influential Indigenous health accounts with 96,500 tweets to 35,900 followers.

Record breaking tweet : Our Aboriginal communities should take health advice from the fast food industry’ campaign eventually  went global, reaching more than  20 million Twitter followers worldwide

6.Established new NACCHO Facebook account : Developed 20,000 followers with record breaking 185,000 engagements per month .

7.Established NACCHO Instagram Account : Now with over 3,000 followers

8. Established NACCHO newspaper: In conjunction with the Koori Mail introduced and published 2013-15 Australia’s first printed Aboriginal Health newspaper that was available also online as a download.

Read Download Here 

9.NACCHO TV: Created in YouTube to share NACCHO videos.

11.NACCHO APP 2013-15 : Designed Aboriginal health app with geo location system and access online to support networks for issues such as depression, suicide, alcohol, smoking, healthy lifestyles etc

12 .NACCHO Ochre Day : Working with Mark Saunders founded the concept of Ochre Day and wrote the strategy to promote Aboriginal Men’s Health

 Part 2 : My future role as a mentor

Mervyn Fernando is the Founding Director of Claystone Marketing.

As a proud Indigenous man with a career beginning with years of study across a broad range of qualifications.

In 2017, he completed his Bachelor of Business with Latrobe University and have since studied a Master of Marketing.

Through his work as a Consultant, he has been responsible for planning and delivering high level marketing strategies across small to large travel management companies, renewable energy providers, commercial cleaning companies, insurance, tech and a range of other commercial entities.

He has a strong passion for marketing and what he loves most about his career in the field of marketing is working with unique stories.

• Social Media Marketing
• Websites
• Graphic Design
• Workshops
• Video Production
• Email Marketing
• Small Business Mentoring
• Marketing Consultancy

Contact Merv via website