Follow the Charcoal Lane story through film

Located in an grand old bluestone building at 136 Gertrude Street, Charcoal Lane specialises in modern cuisine infused with native flavours. Over the past two years it has built up a reputation for fine food, and even featured in the Age Good Food Guide 2011.

Two trainees – James and Marley – feature in today’s video. If you’re a regular visitor to the Mission Australia website or the Mission Australia Facebook page you’ll be familiar with Marley’s story. Throughout the year her dedication was recognised with several awards.

She began by winning the Apprenticeships Plus Monthly Apprentice/Trainee Award for March and was later a finalist in the Koorie Student of the Year in the Victorian Training Awards for “outstanding achievement”, particularly during Charcoal Lane’s Taste of Reconciliation Lunch on Melbourne’s Sandridge Bridge.

Marley topped off the year by winning the Employability Award at Mission Australia’s inaugural Social Enterprise Awards. During 2011 Marley became something of a spokesperson for the Fitzroy restaurant, talking about her training experiences in local newspapers and on Aboriginal TV station NITV.

"I wanted to connect with the Indigenous side of it all, to be able to pass on my knowledge about our culture and food to others," she said. “Without the support of Charcoal Lane I wouldn’t have the same confidence that I do now. I’ve been able to meet some really great people who have inspired me to have careers just like them.

‎To view the first video (Part 1), which will be posted today at 12.30pm, simply “like” facebook.com/citiaustralia. It will also be posted on our Facebook wall – facebook.com/missionaust

The series of video vignettes exploring the work being done at this special restaurant will unfold over the next few weeks to coincide with this months’ Presidents Cup, the prestigious international golfing tournament that Citi is a global partner of.

For the past two years Mission Australia has been one of Citi’s key community partners, working with us to establish a Financial Education, Counselling and Community Hub in south west Sydney as well as supporting Charcoal Lane, so we were thrilled to be chosen as Citi’s charity partner for the 2011 Presidents Cup.