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Council

Our organisation is governed by a Council of nine members. Four are elected by AIATSIS members and five are appointed by our Minister and must be Aboriginal persons or Torres Strait Islanders.

The Council is responsible for setting our policies and ensuring we perform properly and efficiently across all of our functions.

  • Prof Clint Bracknell - Deputy Chairperson
    Clint Bracknell

    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
    Michelle Deshong

    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.

  • A/Prof Myfany Turpin FAHA
    Myfany Turpin

    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.

  • Associate Professor (Dr) Fred Cahir

    Associate 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.

AIATSIS Council Chairpersons

  • Jodie Sizer, 2019 - 2024
  • Professor Michael McDaniel, 2017 - 2019
  • Professor Michael (Mick) Dodson AM, 1999 - 2017
  • Professor Marcia Langton AM, 1992 - 1998
  • Ken Colbung AM MBE, 1984 - 1990
  • Professor JD Mulvaney, 1982 - 1984
  • Dr Les Hiatt, 1974 - 1982
  • Emeritus Professor NWG MacIntosh, 1966 - 1974
  • Emeritus Professor AD Trendall, 1961 - 1966
Last updated: 24 July 2024