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Our Patron Dr J. Huggins AM
In 2001 Jackie Huggins was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to the Indigenous community, particularly for her work with reconciliation, literacy, women’s issues and social justice. In 2000, she had been honoured with the Queensland Premier’s Millenium [sic] Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs.1
Born in Ayr in Central Queensland on 19 August 1956 she is of the Bidjara (central Queensland) and Birri-Gubba Juru (north Queensland) peoples. She attended Inala State High School before leaving at fifteen to work for the ABC and then spending two years with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra. Enrolling at the University of Queensland (UQ), she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology and an Honours degree in History and Women’s Studies. She also has a Diploma of Education from Flinders University in South Australia. She has several publications to her name, including Auntie Rita (with her mother Rita Huggins, 1994) and Sister Girl (1999).
Over the years, Jackie has been an influential and effective member of numerous organisations. Jackie is the Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland. Currently she is co-chair of Reconciliation Australia; a director of the Telstra Foundation; director of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, Australian National University; council member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies; member of the Indigenous Advisory Board of the Queensland Centre of Domestic and Family Violence Research, Central Queensland University; co-chair of the Independent Inquiry into Release Policy and Practice in the Queensland Prison System (2004); and member of the Indigenous Advisory Board for the State Library of Queensland. She is also an AFL Foundation Board member (2006). Prior to these appointments, she was an executive member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (1994-2000); chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council (2001); commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (1997); and a member of the ATSIC Review Panel (2003). Jackie received a Doctor of the University honoris causa from the University of Queensland on 4 December 2006 and the position of Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences on 8 December 2006. Jackie is one of UQs leading academics and an Australian icon. Her heritage, her intellect, her own experiences and her love of history, have all contributed to her deep understanding of life and people and have made her a force behind important Indigenous initiatives in Queensland and Australia. Jackie’s vision as an Indigenous Australian “is for people to understand and know their history….then they can better understand issues about native title, Wik and the stolen generations, but they first have to know and understand the 60,000 years plus of Aboriginal history in this country before we can move on”.2 But, she adds: “I’m still hopeful. I remain forever optimistic.”3 1Staff (2007) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit: University of Queensland <http://www.uq.edu.au/ATSIS/staff/index.html#JackieHuggins> at 13 March 2007.
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Contact Dr Marie Porter, m.porter2uq.edu.au |
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