First Nations Speakers at Mitchelton Library

Speaking next Brett Leavy Kooma man, digital artist, and virtual heritage specialist Sunday 4 October 2026 · Mitchelton Library Read about Brett Leavy →

Recent Speakers

Rosalie Raciti and Linda Harnett have coordinated the series since 2019, with Philippe Foubert as producer throughout, when it was first delivered under the auspice of Reconciliation Queensland Incorporated.

The series paused during COVID, but the same three reactivated the series in March 2024 as ‘Truth-Telling’, and we have met monthly since then. In November 2024 the Queensland Parliament abolished by legislation the state’s Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry.

Three of our speakers testified before the Inquiry: Aunty Lesley Williams, Aunty Flo Watson, and Uncle David Wragge. Their individual testimonies are linked beside each of their entries.

The Inquiry’s own document library holds many more submissions.

6 September 2026

Rhianna PatrickTorres Strait Islander journalist, broadcaster, and audio producer, host of Blak Nation, and the first Torres Strait Islander to read the news on ABC national radio. She spoke on who tells Australian stories, whose voices the record keeps, and what changes when First Nations people control the microphone. Read the flyer (PDF)

2 August 2026

Aunty Sharron mirii BellWiradjuri and Gamilaraay woman, performer, educator, and founder of Indigenous Insights. She told her own story: how she became who she is, and how she uses her role to advance her people. A journey of identity, culture and purpose, shared in her own words. Read the flyer (PDF)

5 July 2026

Dr Thom BlakeQueensland historian and author of A Dumping Ground: A History of the Cherbourg Settlement, on decades of research into Cherbourg and Queensland's history of reserves, removals, institutional control, survival and resistance. Read the flyer (PDF)

7 June 2026

Dr Noritta Morseu-DiopA First Nations woman from Tamwoy Town, Thursday Island, and the first Torres Strait Islander to graduate with a PhD from the University of Queensland. Author of Healing in Justice, on grief and loss counselling, rehabilitation, and advocacy for Indigenous health, human rights and social justice. Read the flyer (PDF)

3 May 2026

Uncle Michael WilliamsGooreng Gooreng man and former head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland. A fully initiated man, on the careful, disciplined care and protection of living First Nations knowledges. Read the flyer (PDF)

1 March 2026

Aunty Sandra King and Gaja Kerry CharltonA discussion of the First Nations cultural heritage of Victoria Park Barrambin, one of Brisbane's most significant Indigenous sites, and the fight to save it at a critical moment. Read the flyer (PDF)

7 December 2025

Katherine CollinsBorn in Meanjin, the youngest of seven, with Yawaalaraay and Kooma family from Dirranbandi in south-west Queensland and Githabul family near Kyogle. Tracing her ancestry helped her meet the grief of losing her parents, and led her to Inala Wangarra’s music project Singing Our Songlines and to the Shadow Sisters project, inspired by Cherbourg’s Strong Women’s Shadow Boxes. A published poet, she presented the storylines of her ancestors with art and video. Read the flyer (PDF)

2 November 2025

Stephen MamCommunity development leader and Executive Director and Founder of the First Nations Action Network. State Campaign Coordinator for Yes23, on identity, place, and the relationships that bind community together. Read the flyer (PDF)

5 October 2025

Aunty Dawn DaylightYugerra, Turrbal, and Jarrawoir woman, stolen at twelve and sent to All Hallows’ convent in Brisbane, where she was made to work as a domestic servant. Sixty years on she is still searching for answers, a search the 2019 SBS documentary Lost Daylight follows. Now a published writer, singer, and artist, and a long-standing advocate for women’s and children’s rights. Read the flyer (PDF)

7 September 2025

Mark BaumgartBorn in Darwin and connected to the Woolwonga Nation, with homelands north-east of Pine Creek reaching into the Kakadu wetlands. Twenty-five years in reconciliation, eight on the governing committee of Link-Up Queensland, and Co-Chair of the National Sorry Day Committee through the 2008 Apology. He grew up a Ward of the State in orphanages and institutions, and works to reconnect families. Read the flyer (PDF)

3 August 2025

Lesley SyngeBrisbane writer and author of Know Their Names: the Queensland government's Aboriginal workers and the system that exploited them, on the Aboriginal stockmen from Barambah-Cherbourg who staffed the Rewan police horse breeding station. Read the flyer (PDF)

6 July 2025

Uncle David WraggeWakka Wakka man from Cherbourg, with traditional connections to Ghungalu, Juru, Bindal, and Wulgurukba Country. An advocate for the protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, he supports Stolen Generations members in healing from forcible removal, and advises the Queensland public service on culturally informed practice. Read the flyer (PDF)
His testimony to the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry (PDF)

1 June 2025

Barbara LawlerQueensland Convenor for Initiatives of Change, a global movement working for change in human motives and behaviour. Her work has taken her to Europe, India, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. Her connection with First Nations people began in childhood on the Mitchelton Library street, where she grew up alongside the Davidson family. Read the flyer (PDF)

4 May 2025

Uncle Joe KirkRespected Brisbane and Wakka Wakka Elder, educator, author, and Master Storyteller. Born and raised in Cherbourg, he teaches First Nations history and traditional practices such as bush medicine, and writes children's stories that keep culture and teaching alive. Read the flyer (PDF)

6 April 2025

Annai GheeTorres Strait and Aboriginal South Sea Islander woman, born on the mainland and raised in a family of nine siblings. She told her own life story in her own words: a mother of two who raised her children as a single mum across more than four decades. Read the flyer (PDF)

2 March 2025

Ray KerkhoveProfessional historian and cultural researcher of the Aboriginal history and material culture of southern Queensland. Author of the first guidebook to the Aboriginal camps that flourished in and around Brisbane into the 1950s, he has worked alongside First Nations groups for more than forty years, reconstructing site histories, past lifestyles, and conflict sites. Read the flyer (PDF)

2 February 2025

Elizabeth HindsonRaised by her grandparents on a cattle station and a dairy farm in the south Burnett, then near Kilcoy, where she was made aware of her colour and met discrimination on her first day of primary school. She moved to Brisbane, qualified as a social worker, and spent most of her career in senior roles with the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Islander Affairs. A contributor to Indigenous Peoples: In the Wake of Mabo (1997). Read the flyer (PDF)

1 December 2024

Shauna BostockHistorian and author of Reaching Through Time: Finding My Family's Stories, winner of the Community and Regional History Prize at the 2024 NSW Premier's History Awards. Tracing her family through private and public records, she uncovered the cruelty of the Aborigines Protection Boards and the obstacles governments placed before those seeking their own histories. Read the flyer (PDF)

6 October 2024

Cheryl BuchananGuwamu woman and lifetime campaigner for Aboriginal rights, social justice, and environmental justice. Publisher, playwright, author, and lecturer, she founded Brisbane community organisations spanning legal, medical, childcare, and publishing services, co-chaired the Interim Truth and Treaty Body, and served as a member of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry. Read the flyer (PDF)

8 September 2024

Paul Richards and Allison JamesContinuing his June session, Paul Richards spoke on court cases and commentaries across the Torres Strait, Weipa, Cooktown, Mossman, Mareeba, Normanton, Cairns, Hervey Bay, and native title. Allison James was the first Secretary at the Aboriginal Legal Service from December 1972, and has spent her career in community justice and the Murri Court. Read the flyer (PDF)

11 August 2024

Marshall Saunders, with the Dormitory BoysMarshall Saunders spoke alongside Dormitory Boys Michael and David Wragge and Uncle Robert West. What happened in the dormitories of Barambah, later Cherbourg, stayed hidden from white Australia. The settlement was divided by a fence nobody crossed without permission. Within that separation the boys built their own ways to survive, and half a century on, some of those stories are only now emerging. Read the flyer (PDF)

14 July 2024

Uncle Valentine BrownStolen Generations survivor, placed in Cherbourg Mission in 1955 with his twin sister Crystal, his older sister Dianne, and his baby brother Mack. Separated from his siblings once there, he grew up without kindness or a sense of belonging. Today he supports his community in health, housing, welfare, and funerals, and serves as a Justice of the Peace. Read the flyer (PDF)

2 June 2024

Paul RichardsLawyer who spent half a century alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, from the Brisbane Tribal Council and the founding years of the Aboriginal Legal Service through to Queensland South Native Title Services. Author of Adventures with Agitators. Read the flyer (PDF)

5 May 2024

Uncle Maurice SericoAn Aboriginal man of Gubbi Gubbi, Jiman, and UK Australian heritage, working in Aboriginal Affairs since 1980 across the Minister’s office, health, education, TAFE, and human resources. Chair of the Balaangala Community Group at The Gap, which brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together around caring for Country and challenging racism. Read the flyer (PDF)

7 April 2024

Aunty FloElder, traditional owner, and proud descendant of the Ghunghanghi People of Yarrabah, and part of the Stolen Generation. First Patron of the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, founder of Elders groups across Queensland including the Yarrabah Elders Group, and recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia. Read the flyer (PDF)
Her testimony to the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry (PDF)

10 March 2024

Aunty Lesley WilliamsRespected Murri Elder who instigated the Justice for Aboriginal Workers campaign, which in 2002 won a historic $55.4 million reparation package for Indigenous workers whose wages past governments controlled. Centenary Medal recipient, and co-author of Not Just Black and White with her daughter Tammy Williams. Read the flyer (PDF)
Her testimony to the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry (PDF)

One Series Since 2019

The RQI Speaker Series, 2019 to 2021

The Truth-Telling Speaker Series that continues to meet at Mitchelton Library began in May 2019. Rosalie Raciti and Linda Harnett, with support from Philippe Foubert, convened the series then as the 'RQI Speaker Series': a First Nations speaker every second month from July 2019 at Mitchelton Library, with an afternoon tea to which everyone brought a plate.

When the Covid pandemic closed the libraries they took the series online and kept it monthly through 2021. In 2024 Coordinators Rosalie & Linda with continuing support from Philippe returned the series to Mitchelton Library under their own auspices as Truth-Telling.

Paul Richards, Aunty Flo Watson, and Aunty Lesley Williams have spoken in both eras. The flyers below are the record.

11 July 2021 · Online

Aunty Flo Watson OAMElder, traditional owner, and proud descendant of the Ghunghanghi People of Yarrabah. Removed under the 1897 Act and sent to foster homes and boarding school, she built a career in the Australian Public Service, chaired the Teralba Park Stolen Generations Support Group, and became the first Patron of the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts. She told her personal reconciliation stories. Read the flyer (PDF)

16 May 2021 · Online

Uncle ‘Blinky’ Bill BuchananKooma and Gwamu Elder of South West Queensland, former Aboriginal Co-Chair of Reconciliation Queensland, Elder of the Murri Courts, and Ambassador of the National Indigenous Cancer Network. He spoke on his own reconciliation journey and his vision for the movement in Queensland. Read the flyer (PDF)

11 April 2021 · Online

Uncle Gresham Brown and Aunty Ruth BrownUncle Gresham Brown is an Elder of the Yugara people who led the 2018 NAIDOC March in Brisbane. Together the two founded the Indignarts Gallery and Boomerang Cultural Tours in West End in 2003 to support new and emerging Indigenous artists. Aunty Ruth Brown spent many years in Townsville and holds close connections with Palm Island. They told their personal stories. Read the flyer (PDF)

14 March 2021 · Online

Tania SchaferAboriginal librarian of Mununjali and Bundjalung heritage, at the John Oxley Library on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections since 1992. Her work opened the Norman Tindale and Margaret Lawrie collections to online access. Field of Dreaming: bridging the research gap between institutions and remote communities. Read the flyer (PDF)

26 January 2021 · Online

Aunty Lesley WilliamsFocus on Cherbourg, the Australia Day 2021 event. The award-winning author of Not Just Black and White spoke on the early history of Cherbourg and on growing up in the Aboriginal community town 170 km north-west of Brisbane, followed by a question session with guests who had lived there. Read the flyer (PDF)

21 November 2020 · Online

Aunty Heather CastledineMurri Elder and Aboriginal Co-Chair of the Brisbane Metropolitan Reconciliation Committee. She worked 27 years on cattle and sheep stations, shearing sheds, and earth-moving camps at the back of Bourke, then qualified as a social worker and served Queensland Health as an Indigenous Cultural Consultant to the Child and Youth Mental Health Service. My Reconciliation Journey: From the Back of Bourke to the City. Read the flyer (PDF)

16 November 2019 · Mitchelton Library

Jeremy DonovanKuku Yalanji storyteller, artist, and didgeridoo performer of far north Queensland, former National Development Director of Generation One and chief executive of its campaign to end disparity through employment. He works in youth development in remote and urban communities, and his art hangs in private collections in California, Seattle, and Colorado. Read the flyer (PDF)

14 September 2019 · Wynnum Library

Professor Bronwyn FredericksMurri woman of South-East Queensland and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Indigenous Engagement at the University of Queensland, with more than thirty years in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations, government, and tertiary education. Promoting Indigenous Community Engagement. Read the flyer (PDF)

27 July 2019 · Mitchelton Library

Paul RichardsLawyer with fifty years in Indigenous civil rights and land rights and a founder of the Aboriginal Legal Service, in conversation about Adventures with Agitators, his stories of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Queensland in their battles for justice. His first Mitchelton session; he returned in June 2024. Read the flyer (PDF)

25 May 2019 · Garden City Library, Mount Gravatt

Waverley Stanley AMFounding Director of Yalari, which places Indigenous children from regional, rural, and remote communities in leading Australian boarding schools on scholarship: 194 children in 26 schools and 346 alumni by 2019. Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2019. The Yalari Story. Read the flyer (PDF)

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Voices at Mitchelton

Recent Speakers

The RQI Speaker Series, 2019 to 2021