About Us
Celebrating over 35 years of pride
In 1985, a group of passionate Darwinites came together to create the very first Darwin Pride Festival – promoting diversity, equality and celebrating LGBTQIA+ communities. These brave individuals shined the spotlight on issues that needed to change and celebrated what already made us shine. Over three decades on, we’re continuing what they began.
In 2019, Darwin Pride became an incorporated association for the purposes of:
- program and facilitate events throughout the year which meet the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community liaise with government, community groups and members of the public to understand and meet the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community and the broader community as appropriate
- fundraise and utilise available grants to provide the above services
- donate to causes and events which we believe supports the ethos, objects and purposes of the Association
Top End Pride is run by volunteers who are passionate about equality, and diversity. We meet on a regular basis to plan and coordinate events and to work closely with local Government bodies to ensure we have our voices heard for future generations.
It is our mission to continue to raise awareness within our community and campaign for freedoms that will allow our people to live their lives on a genuinely equal footing.
Darwin Pride (NT) Inc, rebrand to Top End Pride (NT) Inc.
At the 2020 Annual General Meeting, the members of Darwin Pride (NT) Incorporated discussed and agreed to rename and rebrand the organisation to Top End Pride (NT) Incorporated. The new logo was launched in 2021.
The Committee chose this design for the following reasons:
*The first notable piece of the art work is the outline of the Northern Territory as it identifies us being from this great land.
*The colours of Pride are diverse and we decided to include such colours which also represent our spectacular sunsets seen here in the Northern Territory.
*As the Brolga can often be seen in the stunning parks of Northern Territory, we decided to have this great crane as a feature of our logo.
YOUR 2022 COMMITTEE
Chair
Secretary
Secretary
Amber Sayers - Hunt
Not sure I have any real skills to speak of ... except... being a Lesbian. Which I started begrudgingly realizing (back then, not now) when I was about 11 or 12yrs old.
Moving on... Kirsty and I have been together since 1999, when she, as an “I’m not a lesbian, I was just attracted to Amber” kinda person jumped me at my 30th birthday party... true story!
We moved to the NT from WA in 2002 and together we partied HARD (still do occasionally) through the early 2000’s often with our very own Emma.
Our daughter, Saige, finally came along in 2011, and with her in tow, we embarked on campaigning for Marriage Equality. Marriage Equality became our mission in life when Saige asked us “why we didn’t have the same surname” and then “why we weren’t allowed to get married” and we couldn’t give her an adequate definitive answer!
Thankfully, we where finally allowed to marry and did so in July 2018 at our home, 8mths after Marriage Equality passed. Saige was a vital part of our wedding... It was a huge and very expensive event but worth every cent.
Saige is a very special little person and she rules our world!
Back to me? I have lots of life experiences both amazingly awesome and some totally shit ones to draw on.
What I want to see for Pride moving forward is to reach all our Community. I know as a whole our Community, here in Darwin, are relatively close (gay boys happy to hang with gay girls) but I want us to reach all walks of our Community, it’s just trying to figure out where they are and how to engage them, thats of course if they want to.
I’ll say this though about my skills, I make a pretty good gofer and lacky! I can take instruction and lift heavy things.
Secretary
Secretary
Secretary
Ingrid Laudzevics
I have been in Darwin since 2016 but did a stint from 1989 - 1995 whilst in the RAAF. After leaving the RAAF I started studying Art and Fashion design but with a daughter who had a passion for dance and theatre, I needed to financially support that :-)
I started working for a consulting company and within a few years I was acting as Company Secretary for private and public companies.
My experience over the last 20 years includes:
• Company Secretarial, Corporate Governance and Compliance for Private, Public Listed and Unlisted Companies, Not for Profit Organisations and Local Government • Share Registry Account Management • Council, Board and Committee support • Bookkeeping, Payroll and Budget support • Executive Assistant/Associate for Associate Justice of Supreme Court • Executive Assistance support and Office Management, including administration systems design and implementation, change management and training.
I have been involved in the Entertainment Industry since I was 7 years old, both on and off stage and acted as the Entertainment Coordinator whilst I was in the RAAF both in Sydney and Darwin which involved small and large events.
I have been a Volunteer since a very young age and am currently volunteering for the Starlight Foundation, Careflight and this year will be working with Camp Quality.
I was introduced to Darwin Pride as a volunteer in 2019, was a committee member in 2020 and again a volunteer in 2021.
I look forward to working with Top End Pride in 2022
General Member
General Member
General Member
Kirsty Sayers-Hunt
Wife of Amber, mother of Saige and Labor tragic. Currently I work for the Member for Daly and the Member for Lingiari. My roles cover everything from socials, media, comms, parliamentary businesses, event management, constituent relations. I’ve also volunteered on many committees and have just finished a 6 year stint as Deputy Mayor and Councillor on Litchfield Council and Vice President of the Local Government Association of the NT. I am currently a Brolga NT and Australian Tourism National judge. I’ve “done time” in many NTG and AG Departments as well as NGO’s including Tourism NT, Dept Employment and Workplace Relations. Completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors as well as numerous financial, risk and governance courses.
General Member
General Member
General Member
Belinda Thomas
Update coming soon.
General Member
General Member
General Member
Paige Horrigan
Update coming soon.
General Member
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
General Member
Garry Nutt
Update coming soon.
General Member
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
General Member
Edward Fiszer
Update coming soon.
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Ben Herdon
Ben has been involved with Top End Pride since it was Darwin Pride and steered the committee through that rebrand season. He has been Treasurer, Vice Chair, Co-Chair, Chair & now serves on the Katherine Pride subcommittee. Prior to this Ben was involved in organising an LGBTQIA+ group in Adelaide before he relocated to the Top End. Ben currently works for the Commonwealth Bank where his primary roles are people leadership, risk management, planning, and coaching to succeed. Ben was elected to Katherine Town Council as a Councillor in September 2021 after running with a campaign messaging around his commitment to the environment, safe spaces for our diverse citizens and his experience in governance. Ben hosts a radio show on KatherineFM called Drinks With Dorothy which has the purpose of connecting and engaging the LGBTQIA+ community of Katherine. The station is working on making streaming available and Ben looks forward to connecting with audiences further afield when that happens. While Ben is firmly committed to Katherine and the Northern Territory for at least the next 4 years of his council term, he has lived in NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and the Philippines. He has experience working with people from all ages, races, sexual and gender diversities, religions & people living with disabilities. He is comfortable behind a microphone and loves the opportunity to speak publicly. When Ben is not running a bank, attending to Council duties, or hosting a radio show, he enjoys spending time cooking, swimming, exploring, or sitting on the couch with his dog Lily.
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Katherine Pride Sub-Committee
Lee Henderson