Anne (Wagabe) Poelina

PhD, PhD, MED, MA, MPH&TM, a Nyikina Warrwa woman from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, she is one of Australia’s widely respected Indigenous leaders. Head of Indigenous studies at the University of Notre Dame, she is a human and Earth rights advocate, active community leader, academic researcher, scientist and filmmaker. She is also the go-to person for National and State Governments seeking Indigenous advice on river systems. Over the past 30 years, she has employed a combination of public engagements, peer-reviewed academic papers, podcasts, community meetings, poetry, storytelling and filmmaking to share the lived experiences of Indigenous people and expand appreciation of the value of Indigenous knowledge for the challenges facing our world. She has instigated many cultural development projects in remote Aboriginal communities to preserve and promote Indigenous culture and country, including restoring traditional languages and developing Indigenous dictionaries. As an Indigenous leader, Poelina regularly contributes to national and global Think Tanks and was a signatory to the 2010 Redstone Statement which she helped draft at the First International Summit on Indigenous Environmental Philosophy. As lead researcher at the University of Notre Dame’s Nulungu Institute, she oversees all research activities and project reporting and chairs a collaboration of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers with extensive practical and theoretical knowledge, all working for transformative, decolonising eco-cultural outcomes. Her collaborative, cooperative ethos has resulted in the initiation of various ‘two-way science’ projects combining the best non-Indigenous and Indigenous knowledge to restore and preserve ecosystems and people’s well-being. At the international advocacy level, her appearances and many collaborative publications have contributed to expanding networks and global thinking about the value of Indigenous knowledge for solutions to meet the challenges of our time.

Affiliation: Member Nyikina Warawa Indigenous Nation, Australia; Inaugural Chair, Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (see www.martuwarra.org); Professor, Chair & Senior Research Fellow Indigenous Knowledges, Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Broome, Australia; Adjunct Professor, Indigenous Education Futures, Arts & Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Managing Director (pro bono), Madjulla Incorporated (see www.madjulla.org); Member of the Indigenous Advisory Committee for Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water; Deputy Chair Australian Peace and Security Forum; Patron Sustainable Populations Australia; Peter Cullen Water Leadership Fellow.
 

Fields of interest:
- Anne’s aim in life is to be a good, decent human being, and to leave Earth as a good ancestor

- Strengthening First Law; the Law of the Land, not of Man.

- Shifting the human-centric, ego-logical imbalance towards ecological balance – from the ‘me’ to the ‘we’ - as collective citizens in a family of diversity through an ethics of care and love.

- Learning and sharing with other Indigenous peoples and scholars from different disciplines, strengthening international cooperation and promoting the richness and diversity of cultures within our pluriverse.

- Incorporating Indigenous science, governance and leadership as an ancient wisdom, critical for the settings of modern living that support the well-being of humanity and our non-human kin - rivers, mountains, trees, animals, birds and all others.

- Identifying and strengthening bio-cultural and bio-regional models of leadership and governance to ensure economic democracy through just development on just terms.

- Working with others using collective wisdom to understand, inform and transform systems thinking for the wellbeing of Mother Earth and humanity.