Alumni in Focus Q&A with Professor Anne Poelina

Co-Chair of Indigenous Studies at the Nulungu Research Institute

Meet alumna Prof Anne (Wagaba) Poelina - Co-Chair of Indigenous Studies. Anne is an active indigenous community leader, academic researcher, human and land rights advocate, and the University’s first conferred Aboriginal doctoral candidate.

Prof. Anne Poelina is the first Indigenous scholar at the University to receive major Australian Research Council funding.

Why did you choose to study at Notre Dame?

Notre Dame is a Centre of Excellence based in the Kimberley. I have a long-standing relationship with staff and students at the Nulungu Institute of Research. The research centre is an outstanding example of better practice fusing multiple disciplines and innovative partnerships with leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations and community leaders. My doctoral studies connected me with the Vatican through Lauato si, creating the opportunity to collaborate with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. This relationship allowed connection with key researchers globally enhancing my doctoral publications, creating enduring industry, community, and government partnerships.

Tell us about your career since graduating

Since graduating with a second PhD my contribution, spanning nearly 40 years of best practice has been recognized.  This time frame covers multiple disciplines and workforce development, nationally and globally. In recognition of my commitment to learning and sharing knowledge, I obtained the position of Professor, Co-Chair of Indigenous Studies, with Nulungu Institute Research.

Most recently, as Chief Investigator, I have been the recipient of an Australian Research Grant and have a great team, both within and external to Notre Dame. As a senior practitioner I look forward to the next three years of raising the profile and contribution of the University at local, regional, national, and international levels. I currently hold senior appointments representing Notre Dame in Commonwealth, state, and international bodies.

Tell us about your relationship with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

My relationship with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River begins through my introduction. “Ngayoo yimartuwarra marnin. Ngayoo mandajarra Nyikina.” I am a woman who belongs to the Martuwarra, the Fitzroy River. I am a guardian, a deep insider. This knowledge and practice have been taught and shared through my life-long learning and practice. As a guardian for Martuwarra, my obligation is to give voice to our ancestral serpent guardian to ensure the Martuwarra Fitzroy river continues to have a right to life, but importantly a right to flow. The work I am doing with legal scholars is to be brave and extend legal pluralism towards recognising rivers as ancestral beings, with their personhood and standing. To ensure matters of foreseeable harm and destruction, particularly destruction of our sacred sites which are of public interest, are communicated to the region, nation and outwards to the world.

What does it mean for you to create awareness about the indigenous community and the work that needs to be done to bridge the gap?

To create awareness, we must first acknowledge the injustice and inequity experienced across the Australian nation. My work showcases Indigenous people as the first legal practitioners, scientists, farmers, artists, and story tellers. Importantly how this ancient wisdom, which has so much relevance in modernity frames, leadership, governance and self-regulation of our behaviours and codes of conduct which exist in a world of sharing, trade, reciprocity, and ceremony. As Indigenous people, we travelled across the continent using our songlines as a map to traverse the Country.

Today, despite the dispossession of our lands, living waters and biodiversity, Indigenous leaders and their communities, continue to showcase resilience and resourcefulness.

In moving forward in spirit of reconciliation and healing, we must first come to a point where we need to have truth telling to heal and to redefine who we are as fellow Australians and indeed global citizens, contributing towards planetary health and survival in a time of great uncertainty of climate change.

What motivates you to create awareness in such a passionate way?

I am motivated because I believe it is all about ‘stories’. We need to share stories in multiple ways to inform others of how we are all Indigenous to Mother Earth, our Common Home. In a time of climate change and climate chaos, we need collective wisdom and thinking to ensure intergeneration equity along with multi-species justice in recognising our non-human family; the birds, the trees, and importantly, rivers that have a right not only to live but to flow.

What do you do in your spare time when you are not advocating for change?

I do not have spare time. What I do is not a job, it is a lifetime commitment to giving voice to Indigenous people, communities, and Country. Any spare time I have is spent completing the construction and operations of the Majala Centre. I believe there could be an opportunity to create a special and beautiful place to run workshops, training sessions and professional development,  partnering with Notre Dame and other training partners. My most pleasurable experience is to lay on the ground near our beautiful ‘billabong’ in my remote community, to see, feel and hear the River Country.

What are your hopes and goals for 2023?

I hope to spend more time in the field working with vulnerable people and communities in the West Kimberley, to diversify the workforce and invest in building new regenerative economies. In my role as Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, the elders have focused on strengthening the capacity of our young leaders to govern and become entrepreneurial storytellers, building the forever industries along this globally unique Fitzroy River Watershed.

My goal as the lead Chief Investigator for a major Australian Research Council Grant titled, ‘Intergenerational cultural transfer of Indigenous knowledges’, is to learn new skills but to also value the contribution of others making the Project an example of better practice.

The outcomes will contribute to Aboriginal wellbeing, enhance biodiversity, and advance water communication. I am looking forward to working with other Chief Investigators and our research partners, including Indigenous Research Assistants and community members. I will continue to represent Notre Dame as the Inaugural First Nations appointment independent Advisory Committee - Murray Darling Basin (MDBA) Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences (ACESS). This will include other national and state-based committees and research partnerships. It also means keeping hope alive by strengthening my international partner relationships to continue to work on innovative projects and publish our results.

What does ethical leadership mean to you?

Ethical leadership to me, when I think of what my Notre Dame educational journey has reinforced in me, is the need to have values and ethics which promote justice and equity. To continually strive to build ethics based on care and love and to be of service to the most vulnerable and to give voice to the muted. To strive always as a leader to learn, share, and build partnerships with diverse and critical thinkers who hold the view that we live in a world of complexity and need to have collective wisdom guiding our collaborative leadership. Importantly to let eco, and not ego, determine my dialogic action. To be brave, ask questions and be a team member in designing new innovative ways for leadership, governance, and entrepreneurship, all the while committing to true reconciliation, peace and harmony.

Prof. Anne Poelina
PhD, PhD, MEd, MA, MPH&TM
ORCID ID

Professor, Co-Chair Indigenous Studies Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame
Adjunct Professor, College of Indigenous Education Futures, Arts & Society, Charles Darwin University.
Visiting Fellow with Institute for Post-Colonial Studies, Melbourne
Research Fellow, Australian National University

Water Justice Hub

Articles

Alessandro Pelizzon, Anne Poelina, Afshin Akhtar-Khavari, Cristy Clark, Sarah Laborde, Elizabeth Macpherson, Katie O’Bryan, Erin O’Donnell & John Page (2021): Yoongoorrookoo: Emergence of Ancestral Personhood, Griffith Law Review, DOI: 10.1080/10383441.2021.1996882 Paper

Turnbull, S., & Poelina, A. (2022). How Indigenous wisdom can protect humanity. Journal of Behavioural Economics and Social Systems, 4(1), 10-36. https://doi.org/10.54337/ojs.bess.v4i1.7293

Professor Poelina Inaugural First Nations appointment independent Advisory Committee - Murray Darling Basin (MDBA) Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences (ACESS).

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