Mervyn Eades

Mervyn is a proud Nyoongar man. He is the CEO of the Ngalla Maya Aboriginal Corporation; the organisation he founded and developed to respond to the high rates of illiteracy, lack of educational qualifications and joblessness among former inmates. From the age of 13 to 31, Mervyn was in and out of juvenile detention and prison. He lost an 18-year-old brother to a death in prison custody.

Mervyn was recognized with the 2016 Eddie Mabo Award for Social Justice at the National Indigenous Human Rights Awards. Ngalla Maya provides training, education, mentoring for former inmates. Ngalla Maya provides ongoing mentoring, long after its graduates are employed. In the last 18 months, Ngalla Maya registered more than 200 former inmates into training programs with 100 of the graduates into pre-agreed employment. Ngalla Maya is Perth-based, recently expanding into WA’s South West. Ngalla Maya sponsors the Women’s Reintegration Program.