Tat Whaleboat believes in the strength of community spirit and helping young peope to achieve their potential. His own story is sure to inspire you.

When Tat came to the end of Year 11 and was unable to read or write. However, he was inspired by a Guidance Counsellor at his school to take up an apprenticeship in Carpentry.

He engaged in a Commonwealth Indigenous Apprenticeship Scheme and successfully rose through the ranks to the point where he became an Inspector of Health and Safety for the Queensland Government.
The mark of his success as far as Tat is concerned is that he has a beautiful wife and two children.

He has also created and develop his own program of pathways for indigenous kids to get into organisations and trades via apprenticeships as part of his work with the Queensland Government.This program also has a dedicated health unit to assist indigenous communities in more remote areas.

Tat now lives in Bundaberg and is an Ambassador for the Department of Education, Science and Training in Literary and Numeracy (DEST) and in his spare time funds a program from his own pocket to help kids in remote communities in the Torres Strait come down to Bundaberg and begin pathways in the trades and sporting careers.

One example of a success story in Tat’s program of sporting pathways is Michael Bani. Michael was a young man who had fallen into a trap of drug and alcohol use, with no real future on the island of Mabuiag.Now, he has turned it all around with Tat's help and plays 1st grade NRL with the Manly Sea Eagles, making it to the Grand Finals in 2007.