2022 International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples Symposium

Clark Webb: "Journey to the opening of the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School"

Clark will talk about the journey to opening the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, the first bilingual school of an Aboriginal language in New South Wales, and aspirations for the future.

Clark Webb is a proud Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung person who resides on the Coffs Harbour Coast. Clark is the CEO of Bularri Muurlay Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation, which opened the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School in 2022.

Professor Diane Kerr OAM: "Treating infections though First Nations healing and medicine"

This presentation will discuss how to improve healthcare and health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. It will also outline the need for Indigenous voices in government decision-making and the need for First Nations people to have a voice in their own treatment.

Professor Aunty Diane Kerr is a Wurundjeri Elder and identifies with the Ganun Willam Balak clan. She is also a Knowledge Fellow at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute. Aunty Di is the matriarch of her family and takes pride in being a mother, stepmother, foster mother, aunty and a grandmother. Aunty Di has devoted much of her life to her local community as both a mentor and foster carer and has worked in various fields including child care, education, native title, Stolen Generation support, and other community work. Her passion, however, lies in the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal communities.

Warwick Padgham, Eddie Cubillo, and Jaynaya Dwyer: "Employing Indigenous Knowledges to Understand the Intersection Between Health and Justice"

This panel examines the intersection of the health and justice systems to show how Indigenous knowledge can challenge deficit-based health and justice models and champion innovative approaches and outcomes. The panel will discuss how Indigenous knowledge can inform the development of strengths-based and future-oriented health justice practice models for the benefit of Indigenous people and the broader Australian community. Health and Justice is a Research Theme program funded by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Warwick Padgham is a Taungurung man and the Program Manager of the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub. In this role, Warwick leads the administrative responsibilities of the Hub ensuring that the Hub’s vision is realised. Prior to the Law School, Warwick was Manager of Indigenous Student Programs at the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, overseeing Indigenous graduate research student development. He provides advice regarding Indigenous graduate development across the University and its partners, as well as working on projects and activities specific to Indigenous doctoral advancement nationally and globally.

Dr Eddie Cubillo is an Aboriginal man with strong family links in both the urban and rural areas throughout the Northern Territory. He is of Larrakia/Wadjigan and Central Arrente descent. Eddie has a Bachelor of Laws Degree and was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Throughout his career, Eddie has been involved with a number of organisations and causes including the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Service and the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. He recently submitted his PhD and is working at the University of Melbourne’s Law School as Associate Dean & Senior Research Fellow (Indigenous Programs).

Jaynaya Dwyer is a Research Fellow at the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub. She is a non-Indigenous woman who grew up on Wurundjeri Country. She is a Lawyer with a public service background, with a strong interest in access to justice, decolonisation and social justice in her work.

Professor Patrick Nunn, Roselyn Kumar, and Taniela Bolea: "Traditional Knowledge in Fiji for Anticipating, Averting and Accommodating Environmental Risk"

People have lived on islands in the western Pacific Ocean for more than three thousand years, developing robust sets of site-specific protocols for anticipating environmental risk (including weather, earthquake, and eruption prediction) that spawned practices for averting risk (such as structures, rituals, and propitiatory behaviours) and accommodating risk (such as optimal settlement location, food-surplus production, and food preservation).

Professor Patrick Nunn spent more than two decades in the Pacific Islands, researching its geology and its climate and cultural histories. In addition to his current position, he is Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Adjunct Professor at both the University of the South Pacific and the Solomon Islands National University.

Fiji-born Roselyn Kumar has a long-standing interest in traditional knowledge and its culturally grounded uses throughout the Pacific Islands for coping with environmental adversity, including climate change. Co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, Rosie’s interests range from Lapita-era archaeology and ceramic mineralogy to tropical palaeoclimatology deduced from giant clam sclerochronology, the topic of her PhD.

Born and raised on the southern Fiji island of Kadavu, Taniela (Dan) Bolea became the Publisher of the Fiji Daily Post newspaper shortly after it was founded in 1990 and later the CEO of the Fiji Audio-Visual Commission before migrating to Australia in 2013. His research (with others) on extant memories of 2500-year old volcanic eruptions on Kadavu is about to be published in the journal Oral Tradition.

Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Maddison Miller, Dr Jack Pascoe, and Matt Shanks: "Using Indigenous Knowledge to Manage Healthy Country"

This panel asks what constitutes 'Healthy Country' and discusses the design and efficacy of Healthy Country management plans. The panel will consider how Healthy Country management plans can empower Indigenous communities and the broader Australian community. Healthy Country is a Research Theme program funded by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher is a Wiradjuri man and Director of Research Capability at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute. He is also a physical geographer and Assistant Dean (Indigenous) for the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. Michael’s interests are in the long-term interactions between humans, climate, disturbance, and vegetation at local, regional, and global scales. His current work involves looking at historical environmental records from across the Southern Hemisphere to reconstruct how the environment has changed.

Maddi Miller is a Darug woman living and working on unceded Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Wilam Biik. She is an archaeologist, artist, writer, and is currently a research fellow at The University of Melbourne. Maddi’s research focuses on storytelling as a mechanism for bringing together multiple ways of knowing. Maddi has previous experience working in government and she has worked with researchers through the National Environmental Science Program to ensure Indigenous Knowledge Systems are respected in research.

Jack Pascoe is a Yuin man who grew up on Gadabanut Country before leaving to study Environmental Science at Deakin University. Jack completed a PhD with the University of Western Sydney, where he studied the predators of the Blue Mountains. His key fields of interest are fire ecology and biocultural landscapes. Jack works as Conservation & Research Manager at the Conservation Ecology Centre in the Otways and as a Research Fellow in the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

Matthew Shanks is a proud Taungurung man who is the Cultural & Natural Resource Management Strategic Advisor Taungurung Land & Waters Council. Matthew previously worked as the Natural Resource Management Policy Advisor for the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owners Corporations where he advised over significant policy programs such as The Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Strategy.

Troy McDonald: "Journey to treaty with the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria"

This keynote speech discusses the journey to achieve voice, treaty, and truth in Victoria. Troy will cover the membership, purpose, and significant achievements of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria; break down the elements of the treaty negotiation framework; and discuss what the next steps look like for treaty in Victoria.

Troy McDonald is a proud GunaiKurnai man. He has been working across Victorian Aboriginal Affairs for 30 years and is the Chairperson of the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation; a Traditional Owner nation with settlement over large parts of Gippsland. Troy has been proud to sit on the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria for the last two and a half years. The Assembly is the elected voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Treaty process. It is working to bring about structural change for Traditional Owner groups and Aboriginal communities across Victoria.

Kinjia Munkara-Murray: "Ngapangimarri ngini waliwalinga ngirramini: How Ants can Inform Land Use and Management on the Tiwi Islands"

This talk will present a case study from the Tiwi Islands where Indigenous knowledge is being applied to research ant biodiversity. It will discuss the research project and where it sits within the Tiwi knowledge framework, and describe the benefits of this study to local decision-making bodies.

Kinjia Munkara-Murray is a Tiwi and Rembarrnga woman completing a Master of Bioscience at The University of Melbourne.

Associate Professor Lisa Palmer, Professor Barry Judd, Dr Kirsty Sword Gusmão, and Professor Rachel Nordlinger: "Prompting Indigenous Culture, Land & Heritage with Indigenous Knowledge"

This panel considers how Indigenous knowledge practices can be better supported and applied in contemporary contexts to strengthen and sustain Indigenous cultures and languages. The panel will investigate how Indigenous knowledge can be adapted with the guidance of senior Indigenous knowledge holders to meet social, environmental, and economic challenges of global significance. Culture and Heritage is a Research Theme program funded by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Associate Professor Lisa Palmer is an academic, writer, and filmmaker who teaches and researches at the University of Melbourne. She lives in Melbourne and regularly travels to Timor-Leste to carry out research and visit extended family. She has published widely in academic journals and is the author of two books: Island Encounters: Timor-Leste from the outside in (ANU Press, 2021) and Water Politics and Spiritual Ecology: Custom, environmental governance and development (Routledge, 2015). She has made two films about the island of Timor: Wild Honey: Caring for bees in a divided land (Ronin Films, 2019) and Holding Tightly: Custom and Healing in Timor-Leste (Ronin Films, 2021).

Professor Barry Judd is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) and Director of the Indigenous Studies Program in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. In his role as PVC, Professor Judd has responsibility for institutional policy, strategy, and advice in relation to all aspects of Indigenous higher education. As Director of Indigenous Studies, he provides academic leadership to the Program through undergraduate teaching, Higher Degree Research supervisions and research activity in support of this growing field of studies.

Kirsty Sword Gusmão carries out research in the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne. She is the Goodwill Ambassador for Education of Timor-Leste and the Chair of the Alola Foundation, an organisation that works to support Timorese women and children in the area of education, health and economic empowerment. She is also Chief Executive Officer of Woor-Dungin, a Melbourne-based organisation which works to link Aboriginal community-controlled organisations with the philanthropic sector.

Rachel Nordlinger is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at the University of Melbourne. Her research focusses on the description and documentation of Indigenous languages of Australia, especially Bilinarra, Wambaya, and Murrinhpatha. She also collaborates with Indigenous communities to support their efforts to maintain and revitalise their languages.

Professor Wanta Pawu: "Cooking the kangaroo: Shaping mutual responsibility through songlines"

This presentation will examine Aboriginal songlines as a way of exploring connections between diverse people and places across Australia, using traditional Indigenous methods of inquiry. It will reflect critically on songlines as a strategy for shaping shared identities and mutual responsibility between diverse peoples in Australia.

Professor Wanta Pawu is a Warlpiri Elder, director of the Milpirri Festival, Lajamanu, and Knowledge Fellow at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, University of Melbourne. He has led and collaborated on research projects through the Australian Research Council, which give focus to Warlpiri song, epistemology, education, the repatriation of archival records, and youth engagement. He has provided policy advice on Indigenous law, education, and youth matters to multiple government and industry bodies, including the Australian Government’s Indigenous Voice National Co-design Group, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and the Northern Territory Department of Education.

Professor Brian Djangirrawuy Gumbula-Garawirrtja: "How Yolŋu knowledge informs creative innovation"

This presentation will discuss the Yolŋu Manikay tradition of song and dance and its importance in maintaining and understanding Yolŋu culture in North-east Arnhem Land. It shows how contemporary Yolŋu creative practices build on knowledge held and transmitted through the Manikay tradition in various innovative ways.

Professor Brian Djangirrawuy Gumbula-Garawirrtja is a Yolŋu ceremonial leader of the Birrkili Gupapuyŋu clan and Knowledge Fellow at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, University of Melbourne. He is a musician in the early Arnhem Land popular band, Soft Sands, and his visual art is displayed in the Australian National Maritime Museum. He has long been engaged in culture, language and heritage research and holds a Master of Indigenous Knowledges from Charles Darwin University. His recent publications include writings on the long history of Yolŋu engagements with Asian seafarers.