Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney is Dean of Indigenous Education at The University of Adelaide. He is a Professor of Education and is an influential Indigenous educationalist in Australia today. In 2011 he won the National Aboriginal scholar of the Year NAIDOC. In the same year he was appointed by the Australian Government Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, The Hon Peter Garrett to the First Peoples Education Advisory Group that advises on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood and school education.
In 2011 he was appointed by the same Minister Australian Ambassador for Aboriginal Education. In 2009 he received an honorary United Nations award from the Australian Chapter for his work on Indigenous Education. He has been a member of several high profile expert committees including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare COAG ‘Closing the Gap’ Scientific Reference Group, the National Aboriginal Reference Group 25 year Indigenous Education Plan and Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority, National Languages Curriculum Reference Group.
Professor Rigney was the inaugural Co-Chair of Ethics Council for the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. In 2009 Professor Rigney was co-author of the review of the National Indigenous Education document Australian Directions for the Federal Government. He was been working across the Pacific on Indigenous Education in New Zealand, Taiwan and Canada.
Professor Rigney was a member on the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Research Advisory Committee as expert on education and cultural transmission. His professional standing in education saw him inducted into the Australian College of Educators (ACE) in 1998. He is recognised as a national and international authority in the area of Indigenist Research Methodologies. Interest in his work by National and International universities has seen him uptake several prestigious Visiting scholar invitations including Cambridge University, UK; Fort Hare University, South Africa; and University of British Columbia, Canada. He has also been chief/co- investigator, led research teams for reports and policies for key benchmarking research/government agencies including: United Nations; DEEWR; ATSIC; NCVER; AIATSIS; The office of the SA Premier and Cabinet; SA Department of Education and Children’s Services.
Similarly, Professor Rigney is an active editorial board member on several national and international Indigenous Studies journals. Professor Rigney is in constant demand as a commentator on national and international Indigenous matters and has published widely on Education, Languages and Knowledge transmission. His 2006 co-edited book titled Sharing Spaces: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Responses to Story, Country and Rights, is an Australian text on Indigenous and non-Indigenous race relations and how this converges in the vulnerable, vital and contested space called ‘education’.
Neerim Callope
Neerim was born in Melbourne - at the time his mother was completing her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Indigenous Studies, and his father was doing his Law degree. When Neerim was 2 years old his parents moved to his father's home town of Normanton.
Neerim went to primary school in Normanton. His parents decided to send him to boarding school, and at the beginning of 2006 - Grade 8 - he was sent to Cairns to attend Saint Augustine's College. Neerim worked hard and was selected as a College Prefect in his Senior year (2010).
During his time at Saints Neerim was given many opportunities to develop his potential. He was selected to go to Canberra to attend the National Schools Constitutional Convention, which was a big factor in Neerim's decision to follow his father's footsteps and study Law.
A year into his Law degree however, he realised it wasn't what he wanted to do. So half way through his second year of Law (2012), he changed degrees from Law to Education (Secondary).
With a major in English and a minor in History, he hopes to teach in a variety of contexts - from rural and remote Aboriginal communities, to cities like London and New York.
As a Student Ambassador for James Cook University, Neerim encourages all Indigenous students to complete their high school education and pursue whatever dreams they may have, no matter how crazy or 'unrealistic' it may be. A motto he likes to live by is: 'To be realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity'.
Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann was born in he bush near Daly River in 1950. While Miriam Rose is a member of the Ngangiwumirr language group she also speaks four other local languages.
When Miriam Rose was about five years old she was placed in the care of her aunt Nellie and uncle Attawoomba Joe, a legendary police tracker. Miriam Rose subsequently moved with her aunt and uncle to live at police stations at Adelaide River, Pine Creek and Mataranka, where she attended government schools. While maintaining her traditional cultural education, Miriam Rose learned to "read the country" as well as the pages of her text books.
When she was aged about fourteen, Miriam Rose returned to Daly River and continued her education at the mission school. In 1965, Miriam Rose was baptised a Catholic. In 1968, Miriam Rose undertook a Teaching Assistants course at Kormilda College in Darwin, and subsequently became a teacher's aide at the St. Francis Xavier mission school at Daly River. She returned to Kormilda for further study in 1971. It was during this time that she became keenly interested in painting.
Miriam Rose developed a unique imagery characterised in her acclaimed series of paintings, Australian Stations of the Cross. Early recognition of her work was also given when she was asked to illustrate Alan Marshall's book "People of the Dreaming".
As Miriam Rose's interest in painting grew, she used art increasingly as a means of encouraging children to express themselves. In 1974, the Commonwealth Government sponsored a secondment to Victoria, enabling her to work with art teachers in schools.
In 1975, Miriam Rose again returned to Daly River as the Territory's first fully qualified Aboriginal teacher and for many years held the position of Art Consultant with the Professional Services Branch of the Northern Territory Department of Education. During this time she visited schools throughout the Territory thus gaining the opportunity to advance her commitment to the inclusion of visual art as a part of every child's education.
On her return to the Daly River School in 1982, Miriam Rose was convinced that there was a need for more Aboriginal teachers to work among non-Aboriginal school children. She became deeply committed to ensuring that Aboriginal people had the opportunity to become qualified teachers and to manage their own schools. Miriam Rose continues to advocate that education is a matter for the whole community, and must be adapted to suit contemporary Aboriginal needs. She has shown great leadership and perseverance in meeting these objectives. For example, she encouraged other women from Daly River to study to become teachers and she initiated a very successful remote area, teaching education program. St. Francis Xavier School is now completely staffed and managed by Aboriginal people. Her commitment to the community is demonstrated by her role in creating the Merrepin Arts Centre, which fosters adult education with a focus on the visual arts.
In 1988 Miriam Rose was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts by Deakin University, through Batchelor College. Two years later, she began training as a school principal, and in 1993 was appointed to the position of Principal at the St. Francis Xavier School at Daly River.
Miriam Rose was awarded a Bachelor of Education degree in 1993 by Deakin University, and in 1999 gained her Master of Education Degree, with High Distinction. The focus of her work for this degree was the integration of traditional and western education for Aboriginal children and adults.
In 1998, Miriam Rose was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for her services to Aboriginal education and art, and for services to the Nauiyu community having been for many years a member of the local community council, often in the role of President.
In recognition of her outstanding service and contribution to the Northern Territory, in acknowledgment of her leadership and example in the fields of Aboriginal education and the visual arts, and for her contribution to the general community Miriam Rose was awarded an honorary doctorate from Northern Territory University.
In 2004, Miriam Rose was appointed to the National Indigenous Council, the Federal Government's dvisory body that replaced ATSIC.
Waverley Stanley
Waverley Stanley is an Indigenous man who grew up in Murgon, a small rural town 300 kilometres North West of Brisbane, but currently resides on the Gold Coast.
Waverley has a passion for education and the empowerment of Indigenous children. Waverley is the Founding Director of Yalari Limited, a not for profit company established in 2005 to provide Indigenous students from regional, rural and remote communities to attend some of the best boarding schools throughout Australia.
Yalari have a vision of supporting Indigenous students that will provide a positive change for generations of children to come.
Waverley attended Toowoomba Grammar School from 1980 – 1984.
Peter Sabatino
Peter Sabatino is a Torres Strait Islander of Kaurareg, Meriam and Filipino
descent. He was born on Thursday Island and raised on the Catholic Mission at
Hammond Island in the Torres Strait with his parents and 8 other siblings. The Mission was administered by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the school was run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
His education took him from Saint Joseph’s School on Hammond Island, to St Mary’s College and St Peter Chanel College Minor Seminary in Papua New Guinea, and St Paul’s National Seminary in Sydney.
Peter has worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs for over 30 years. During this time he has worked in various organizations including community organisations, Church agencies and Commonwealth and State governments in the areas of education, employment, reconciliation and community development with local, state, national and international foci. Peter has also participated in committees at local, state, national and international levels. On his retirement in 2010, he was the Program Coordinator of Caritas Australia’s Australian Indigenous Program.
Peter has travelled extensively for work and pleasure within Australia, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific and has lived for short periods in Africa and India. His travels have provided him with greater insights into the struggles faced by people living in third world countries for human rights and justice which has parallels with the experience of his fellow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sisters and brothers here in Australia. These experiences have strengthened Peter’s sense of social justice and his commitment to empowering and enabling individuals and communities to achieve their aspirations.
Of particular relevance to the conference is Peter’s role when he was employed by the former Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Cairns from 1991 to 1995 as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Consultant including Chair of the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Education Committee Queensland Catholic Education Commission. It was during this time that the inaugural Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Education Workers’ Conference was hosted in Cairns in 1994.