Nallawilli helping communities connect

“Nallawilli” is a Darug word meaning to “sit down and listen to one another”,  so it’s fitting Nallawilli Technology CEO Roderick McLeod has created an initiative to allow communities to work together to solve common problems.

 McLeod, a descendent of the Yatemetung and Ngarrindjeri nations, has combined his passions for Country, community and technology by creating Community Connect. 

Community Connect uses technology to bring together Indigenous and socially disadvantaged communities throughout regional and remote Australia to help each other solve challenges around health care, education, and family assistance.

“We can transform and save lives by using innovations that already exist,” Roderick said.

Those innovations include high definition video and cloud-based “virtual meeting rooms”. Community members can also connect using technology they are comfortable with, such as PCs, laptops, tablets or smartphones and Smart TVs.

Roderick says that one example where Community Connect will help people in remote or regional communities is allowing patients to be seen by medical specialists without having to travel to do so. Other areas that Roderick believes could be helped by Community Connect include child and adolescent protection services, mental health services, domestic and family violence support, counselling, virtual mentoring and family planning.

“We want to give people the choice to stay within their own Country, underpinned by an economic state that creates a self-sustaining and self-reliant future,” he said.

In order to make access to these services easier, Community Connect is investing in existing infrastructure. In this way community health centres, education institutions and other community organisations will be linked with collaboration technology. 

Roderick is also grateful for the efforts of industry partners CommuniCloud and Polycom, who are helping to drive the initiative through providing their expertise and donating their technology.