ABORIGINAL OWNED AND OPERATED
The Wirrigan Group is Aboriginal-Owned and was established to help public and private sector organisations achieve their organisational goals whilst support Indigenous employment programs through leveraging their procurement spend for good.
We support programs that help Indigenous Australians overcome social, mental and physical barriers in order to access and maintain employment.
FOUNDED WITH A PURPOSE IN MIND
Not everyone has the same head start in life and some people face more challenges than others.
Our goal is to support Indigenous Australians facing difficulties get back into the workforce.
We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to get a job and operate at their highest potential.
Our LEADERSHIP team
The Wirrigan Group leadership team bring extensive experience and expertise to our clients across our services.
John McNamara
Managing Director
Founder and managing director of the Wirrigan Group. John is a Wiradjuri man from Western NSW with over 38 years’ experience in Aboriginal employment and economic development, overseeing Aboriginal employment initiatives in both the private and public sector. John has advised many of Australia’s leading organisations.
PAUL MCLAREN
TRANSFORMATIONAL DIRECTOR
Over 25 years’ experience in leading Organisational Transformations, Technology delivery and IT Operations. Paul has advised leading organisations including KPMG, Apple, Department of Defence, Allianz, Medibank, Woolworths, ANSTO, NSW Government.
shane horsburgh
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE DIRECTOR
Thought leader in organisational & cultural change. Senior communications Practitioner & Digital/Classroom all-of-government training. Extensive experience in organisational & cultural change at the Australian & U.S. Departments of Defence, AFP, and NSW Police.
hurriya dara
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Transformation and Digitalisation Talent Resource Manager bringing over 10 years’ of multi field expertise in fields of Talents Management, Operation, Recruitment and Project Support.
kevin rosenbaum
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE DIRECTOR
Over 25 years’ experience in engineering, architecture, management, and DevOps on Defence projects. Enterprise Architect and Manager of the Geospatial Architecture Office for Defence.
OUR CLIENTS
federal government
Department of Defence
Australian Tax Office
Department of Human Services
Australian Digital Health Agency
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Department of Industries
Department of Social Services
National Measurement Institute
Wirrigan, the rainmaker
an Aboriginal Dream time story
The people grumbled to Wirrigan, the rainmaker went to the waterhole in the creek each day and poked a stick in it, but still no rain fell. On the third day, he left his stick in the water hole. Near the waterhole was a large open shelter called a bough shed. Its roof and sides were made of branches. The next day, he asked the people to use bark and material from the termite mounds to make huts raised above the ground.
He took the people to the waterhole and he jumped in. Then he asked the people to jump in too. The young men laughed because they did not believe he could make rain. They threw him in the waterhole three times until he was very cold. Everyone left the creek.
That night when everyone was asleep in the bough shed, Wirrigan and the old people walked around it many times, carrying their belongings. Soon, a large, black cloud appeared. Wirrigan woke everyone up and told them to take shelter in the raised bark huts. The rain began to fall and lasted for several days. When the rain stopped, the land was green again and food had begun to grow.
The people celebrated by holding a corroboree, but Wirrigan was not happy because he knew that many of the people had doubted him. To demonstrate his power, he took everyone to a very dry plain. He made a huge torrent of rain fall. It filled the whole plain with water. However, it did not rain anywhere else. He told the young men to fish in the water, but they still did not believe in his power. How could there be fish in the water when it was just rainwater? Finally, they threw their nets into the water and pulled out many different kinds of fish.
No-one doubted Wirrigan again. And the great plain filled with water became known as Corcoran Lake.