Council

Professor Clint Bracknell is a Noongar from the south coast of Western Australia and Professor of Music at the University of Western Australia. 

He has investigated connections between song, language, and landscapes in Australia’s southwest for over a decade, co-developing Noongar language resources including both the first fully adapted Shakespearean stage work and dubbed feature film in a language of Australia. He performs and releases Noongar music under the name Maatakitj. 

Clint holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Western Australia and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. 

Michelle Deshong draws on strong connections to Kuku Yalanji and lives in Townsville, North Queensland. She details the importance of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and people asserting their traditions and culture through methods of leadership and self-governance.

Michelle is recognised globally for her efforts in the gender justice space, transforming gender power relations and norms through her efforts.  She has remained alert to women’s vast and growing achievements, and to women’s progress towards equal participation in society. Michelle has worked with women, nationwide and globally, to raise their voices as active citizens in their own communities, step into leadership roles, and understand how leadership can create sustainable change that promotes women’s rights and gender equality.

Michelle is among a generation of Indigenous Leaders pushing the boundaries to overcome the hurdles that have long beset Indigenous communities. Michelle has a large body of work in the Government, NGO, and community sectors. She holds several governance positions as well as managing her own consultancy business.

From 2017 to 2022 Michelle was the CEO of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIG) implementing innovative approaches to cultural governance and best practice across the Country and building international collaborations. Michelle has been the lead facilitator for the Straight Talk program through OXFAM for the past 12 years and sees this as a crucial opportunity to position women as political change agents and leaders of their communities and nations.

Associate Professor Myfany Turpin FAHA is a linguist and ethnomusicologist at the University of Sydney. She has worked with Aboriginal communities in central Australia since 1994 to document their language and music. Her research interests are in the relationship between language and music and language documentation.

Her research on the Kaytetye language resulted in a co-authored encyclopaedic dictionary, picture dictionary and collection of stories with the late Kaytetye speaker Alison Nangala Ross. She has written scholarly articles in the areas of semantics, music, phonology and ethnobiology and produced audio-visual publications of Aboriginal songs. She works with local organisations to produce resources and provide opportunities for Aboriginal people to further their work in cultural and language survival.

She is a member of the Musicological Society of Australia and the Australian Linguistics Society, editor for the Indigenous Music of Australia series of Sydney University Press and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Professor (Dr) Fred Cahir is a teacher and researcher in the field of Shared History at Federation University situated on Wadawurrung Country in Ballarat.

Since 2012 Fred has authored a large body of publications including books, journal articles and documentary films.

Jayde Geia is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman and her family are Gunggandji, Bwgcolman and Mualgal.

Jayde is a commercial lawyer and currently works at the Aurora Education Foundation and has held previous roles as manager at Ernst & Young, In-house legal counsel at the Queensland Investment Corporation, solicitor at Allens Linklaters and Judge’s Associate.

Mark Yettica-Paulson is an Intercultural Leadership specialist from the Birrah, Gamilaroi and Bundjalung peoples with connections to Tanna Island (Vanuatu) and Scotland.

Mark is currently the Deep Collaboration Practice Lead for Collaboration for Impact and is a leadership and cultural facilitator for a number of national leadership development programs. Mark brings decades of wisdom from his career in leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and community education across the corporate, NGO, community, government and faith sectors.

Rodney Dillon is a distinguished Tasmanian Aboriginal leader, Cultural Knowledge Holder, and Elder, hailing from the North East Nation of Trawlwoolway in Trouwerner/Lutruwita (Tasmania). Born into a family of resilience, Rodney's commitment to his People, Country, and Culture was instilled by his grandmother, a survivor of captivity on Flinders Island's Wybalenna. Raised in Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania, he has devoted his life to dispelling myths of Aboriginal extinction and advocating for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

His advocacy spans decades, focusing on crucial issues such as land and sea rights, social justice, and the repatriation of ancestral remains. His efforts have significantly advanced Aboriginal sea rights, allowing Palawa/Pakana communities to sustainably harvest marine resources and promoting equitable water access and stewardship in Tasmania. Furthermore, he has worked with Amnesty International for the past 17 years, advocating for homelands and the rights of the child, successfully influencing the Tasmanian government to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years.

Rodney has played a pivotal role in establishing several community-controlled organizations that enhance the wellbeing and empowerment of Aboriginal Peoples through essential services in health and aged care and social enterprise. As the inaugural Chair of the Reconciliation Council of Tasmania, he was influential in shaping truth-telling agendas and reconciliation policies. Currently, he sits on the Tasmanian Truth-Telling and Treaty Advisory Committee, where he advocates for Aboriginal sovereignty, and the recognition of cultural identity and rights. In addition to these roles, he has served as Chairperson of the Aboriginal Heritage Council and as a Director on the Australian Heritage Council for two terms.

Professor Lynette Riley, AO, a Wiradjuri & Gamilaroi woman from Dubbo and Moree, working in the Sydney School of Education & Social Work, The University of Sydney; and Chair, for Aboriginal Education and Indigenous Studies.

Lynette trained as an infants/primary teacher. She has been a classroom teacher; an Aboriginal Education consultant; worked in TAFE; State Manager for Aboriginal Education; and an academic. Her career focus is improving educational delivery for Aboriginal students and ensuring non-Indigenous students gain accurate information about Aboriginal people’s their histories and cultures. Lynette’s PhD was conferred in 2017, looking at ‘Conditions of Academic Success for Aboriginal Students in Schools’.

Lynette has been involved in numerous research projects and in writing numerous chapters and journal articles, her most recent is a series of 7 ‘Wiradjuri Workbooks’ written with her sister Diane Riley-McNaboe.