Dr Jackie Huggins AM

Jackie Huggins is a member of the Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru peoples from Queensland. She is a former Co-Commissioner for Queensland for the Inquiry Into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from Their Families. She also worked on the “Bringing Them Home Report” at the National Library and in particular with the oral history collections. Her lobbying for a national apology continued as Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia (2001-2009).

In popular demand as a speaker on Aboriginal issues, she is a well-known historian and author, with articles published widely here and internationally. Her work in race and gender studies is taught in universities. Ms Huggins acclaimed biography of her mother, Auntie Rita, published in 1994, has been translated into German and French. In 1993 her play “Maarkkings” was performed by the Contact Youth Theatre and toured to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and other parts of Europe.

She is a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the State Library Board of Queensland, and for several years was a judge of the national David Unaipon Award for unpublished Indigenous writers. Ms Huggins was also a member of the Steering Committee for the establishment of a National Indigenous Representative Body from 2008-2010. This work led to the creation of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.