Wantok Strategy Team

Duane is a highly respected and sought after Indigenous and South Sea Islander educator, coach, facilitator, trainer and mentor in the field of leadership, community engagement and community/corporate governance. Duane is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP Course 10, 2004) and effectively utilises his well-established leadership skills and networks to assist in the development of others.

Successfully completing the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) course in 2003 Duane is a certified Cross-Cultural Facilitator. Duane is Managing Director of Education Training & Management Perspectives Pty Ltd (ETMP), a consultancy company specialising in leadership development and governance, facilitation, mentoring and coaching. He is a former adjunct lecturer in Multicultural Studies at Avondale College, NSW and is a former Director of Worawa Aboriginal College in Victoria. Duane commenced his career in teaching (Dip Teaching and BEd) and holds a Masters in Professional Studies (Indigenous Education) from the University of New England (1996).

In May 2013 Duane was awarded the Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation bursary to study at the Harvard University, Boston USA, where he successfully completed the executive education program ‘The Art and Practice of Leadership Development’. In 2013 Duane assisted Australian South Sea Islanders – Port Jackson (ASSIPJ) in drafting and facilitation the national conference and election process for the Wantok ‘One Voice One People’ State Library QLD, National body model for ASSIs. Having deep experience in both leader development and consulting with Indigenous communities and corporate businesses for key federal agencies across the country and internationally, he is excellently placed to educate and inspire reflection on the role of the leader and share insights into the resilience and leadership successes of all peoples in contemporary society.

Professor Gracelyn Smallwood is a registered nurse, a registered midwife, and has also completed a Diploma in Indigenous Mental Health and was the first Indigenous Australian to receive a Masters of Science in Public Health at James Cook University (JCU). As part time ‘special advisor’ to JCU Vice Chancellor Prof. Smallwood assisted the implementation of JCUs ‘Reconciliation action plan’ (2007-2011) and remains Adjunct Professor at this University.

In 2011, Prof. Smallwood completed a PhD Thesis Human Rights and First Australians Well-being. In 2014, Prof. Smallwood became a member of the Queensland Mental Health and Drug Advisory Council and was appointed Member of the Harvard FXB Health and Human Rights Consortium, a Member of the North Queensland Primary Healthcare Network (NQPHN) Clinical Council for the Townsville-Mackay region, and a Member of the Federal Ministerial Advisory Committee on Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections in 2015.

Prof. Smallwood is a Professor of Nursing and Midwifery at Central Queensland University. An active member of ASSIPJ since 2012, as a Birrigubba, Kalkadoon and South-Sea Islander woman Prof. Smallwood has been proactive in highlighting the injustices of Australia’s Sugar Slave history. In 1997, a guest of South African President, Mr Nelson Mandela, Prof. Smallwood spoke with activists including the sons of the late Steve Biko on HIV-AIDS prevention through a series of workshops.

Prof. Smallwood comes from a family of Human Rights Activism of some 100 years through her parents and grandparents and has dealt with almost every disease, both nationally and internationally, however she has never been able to come to terms with the ugly disease of racism.

Awarded: NAIDOC Person of the Year (2014), James Cook University Outstanding Alumni (2014), United Nations Association of Australia Queensland Community (2013), Deadly – Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Indigenous Health (2007), Henry Kemp Memorial Award (1994) at the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (first woman, Indigenous person and non-paediatrician), Order of Australia (AO) medal (1992) for service to public health, Queensland Aboriginal of the Year (1986), particularly HIV-AIDS education. Scholarship in cross-cultural comparative health of Maori and First Nations in New Mexico and Arizona, and then Polynesian disadvantage in Hawaii.

Jasmine is a multi-disciplinary artist from Queensland, Australia, now practicing out of Wellington, New Zealand. She is a fourth generation Australian South Sea Islander with ancestral lineage to the islands of Ambae and Santo of Vanuatu. Jasmine’s research examines the historical practice of ‘Blackbirding’, a romanticised colloquialism for the Pacific slave trade, and the contemporary legacy that this practice has imparted on those who trace their roots to New Zealand and Australia through the slave-diaspora.

“I’m interested in examining the effects of intergenerational trauma transmitted through on going oppression across several generations, particularly in contrast to the inheritance of wealth that has come to those who benefitted from slavery and colonisation.”

Dr Geissler is an art historian with a specialist interest in Indigenous Australian art. She is a senior researcher at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, consultants to the University of New England on their NERAM Aboriginal art collection and acts in an advisory capacity to the UTS Law School’s Indigenous Knowledge Forum.

She draws from a 20 year experience in journalism and corporate relations specializing in the architecture, design, business, heritage, science, investment arts, Aboriginal art, not-for-profit and the education sectors. Dr Geissler rejoined the ASSIPJ Strategic planning team in 2018 however has assisted developments in prior years 2013-2016.

Joe is a psychologist and business person who enjoys working in the health, tourism and small business sectors. He has been working professionally with First Nations people for the last thirty years and is himself an Australian South Sea Islander descendant from Lifou Island.

With his wife Jennie, Joe operates Dreamtime Learning from the Noorla Resort in Ingham, training Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people in hospitality, tourism, business and mentoring. Joe is an active promoter of First Nations tourism and is a member of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council’s Indigenous Employment Champions Network.

Awarded: Highly Commended Winner, Queensland Reconciliation Awards (Business) (2015), North Queensland Tourism Awards ‘Hall of Fame Hosted and Operated Accommodation’ (2009, 2001 & 1997), Australian Tourism Awards Standard Accommodation (2007, 2009), Gold Award in Heritage Conservation (2007).

Nomination: Outstanding excellence in Heritage Conservation, National Trust Queensland (2007).

Naomi is a current MSc Sustainable Development student at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

She is a trustee and project manager for Youth Link Networks in Uganda, heading their Pretty Box Project which aims to provide schoolgirls with reusable sanitary pads to improve school attendance and hygiene. Launched in March 2018, the project provided 500 girls at St. Paul’s school in Iganga with reusable sanitary pads as well as puberty lessons and workshops for the entire school. Having launched the sustainability phase in March 2019, which involved donating sewing machines to the school to empower the girls to have ownership and agency over their own futures. Naomi is now monitoring and evaluating its progress before moving onto other schools.

In 2018 she began working as a Team Leader for ADRA-UK which involves managing volunteers abroad to complete sustainable projects in remote rural areas, so far she has successfully overseen the completion of educational projects in the Philippines and Swaziland. This has broadened her understanding of the needs of the poor in developing countries globally.

Moving forward Naomi aims to focus on Gender Empowerment and Inequality as she believes women play a significant role in promoting sustainable development and eradicating poverty.