Ms Anna Dwyer

Aboriginal Researcher and Associate Lecturer

Advanced Diploma of Australian Languages and Linguistic Studies
Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

Email: Anna.Dwyer@nd.edu.au
Tel: +61 8 9192 0641

  • Biography

    Anna Dwyer is an award-winning Research-Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the Nulungu Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Broome Campus.  She is a Karajarri Woman from Karajarri Country, 190kms South of Broome in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia.  Anna's professional background is in Education and Linguistics.  Anna has been a Cultural Educator and Aboriginal Researcher with the Nulungu Research Institute for 14 years.  She is currently enrolled in a master’s degree by Research through the School of Arts & Sciences at Notre Dame University.  As Associate Lecturer she has taught in the Indigenous Studies and Diploma of Nursing programs, particularly around the Silent History, Relationship to Land and Country, Kinship, Language and Cultural protocols.

    Anna is an outstanding Researcher at Nulungu, producing and engaging in regional and national projects on topics such as Energy Usage, Caring for Country, Health and Wellbeing, Language Maintenance and Education. Her interest is working closely with her people and doing research that will assist both her own people and the wider Aboriginal Community.  Anna is a Director for the Karajarri Wanjira and Nangkariny Foundation and continues to represent her people through her research on issues of Law/lore and Culture, Health, and Climate Change.  In 2018 she was awarded the Kullarri NAIDOC Person of the Year and received a Vice Chancellor’s award for Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning in recognition of excellence in Indigenous Education. In 2020, coming from her exceptional work in Broome, she received a citation for her outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for the Australian Awards for University Teaching.

  • Teaching areas

    Anna developed and delivered guest lectures to Diploma of Nursing students on cultural security and sensitivity when caring for Aboriginal patients and she has lectured to students enrolled in Aboriginal Studies courses on relationships to Land and Caring for Country Programs. Anna has also delivered modules in Cultural Competency training to students, staff and other professionals to ensure they are employed and understand cultural protocols when working with Aboriginal people. The insights from Anna's research and personal experience as a Karajarri woman have provided a depth of knowledge that informs and challenges the students thinking and learning. As a Cultural Educator  for the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association, Anna is involved in cultural awareness camps that are conducted on country and supports students who are working with or would like to work with Aboriginal people in the right way.

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Voicing Aboriginal Experiences of Funerals: Examining the Contemporary financial, cultural, social and emotional impacts to wellbeing
    • Finding Country, Finding Home: Sociocultural spatial analysis of the design and lived experiences of Aboriginal residential aged care
    • Remote Aboriginal Tertiary Education: Aboriginal Leadership in Research for Closing two Gaps
    • Caring for Country
    • Climate Change and Adaptation on Karajarri Country
    • LaGrange Water and Agriculture Opportunities
    • Social impact of electricity supply models in Bidyadanga and how they relate to community and Individual Health and Wellbeing
    • The experiences of Aboriginal people who were relocated to Broome in the 1960s and 1970s

  • Community engagement

    Anna Dwyer has extensive experience engaging with Aboriginal communities across the Kimberley on a range of issues pertaining to native title, health, community development, language preservation, Law and culture. Working across a number of roles at the Kimberley Land Council for fourteen years, Anna was engaged in organising and facilitating community meetings. In her work for Kimberley Aged Care, Anna completed significant community consultation processes to inform effective service delivery and assessment of community need. As a researcher at the Nulungu Research Institute Anna has engaged in regional and national projects engaging directly with community members and representative organisations on issues of Caring for Country, Health and Wellbeing, Language Maintenance and Education. As a Traditional Owner, Anna has represented her people at regional, national and international forums, on issues of Law and culture, health and Climate Change. Anna is a Cultural Advisor for the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association and uses her expertise and her skills as a researcher to support her community.

  • In the media

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Wooltorton, S., Guenther, J., Wilks, J. & Dwyer, A. (2022). Aboriginal nation: A strong Kimberley tertiary education narrative The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 51(1) https://ajie.atsis.uq.edu.au/ajie/article/view/45/272
    • Dwyer, A., Morgan, M. & Kennedy, G. (2020). Mapu Kungulu, Mapu Ngarlu, Mapu Muwarr Wakajku (Open Mind, Good Feeling, Good Talk and Business for All of Us): District and Supreme Court Judges’ Conference, 11-14 September 2019. Nulungu Insights 5. Nulungu Research Institute.
    • Dwyer, A. (2016: Pending), 'Climate Change and Adaptation on Karajarri Country, Bidyadanga Community and ‘Pukarrikarra’ places'.
    • Tran, Tran & Strelein, Lisa & Weir, Jessica & Stacey, Claire & Dwyer, Anna et al. (2013). Native title and climate change: changes to country and culture, changes to climate: strengthening institutions for Indigenous resilience and adaptation. [Southport, Qld] National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility Canberra Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Stories Strait Islander Studies
    • Dwyer, A. 2012, ‘Pukarrikarta-jangka muwarr – Stories about caring for Karajarri country’, The Australian Community Psychologist: The Official Journal of the Australian Psychological Society and College of Community Psychologists, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 11-23.
    • LoGiudice, D., Strivens, E., Smith, K., Stevenson, M., Atkinson, D., Dwyer, A., Lautenschlager, N., Almeida, O.A. and Flicker, L. 2011, The KICA Screen: The psychometric properties of a shortened version of the KICA (Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment), Australian Journal on Aging, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 215-219.
    • Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Prize 2012, the brain painting: “the snake eating away the life of your memory” Smith K, Flicker L, Dwyer A, et al. Factors associated with dementia in Aboriginal Australians. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2010; 44: 888-893.

  • Conference papers

    Dwyer, Anna 2012 ‘People worrying for their Country’: Karajarri Country and Climate Change. Unpublished paper presenter at the Encountering the Anthropocene: The role of the Environmental Humanities and and Social Sciences Conference, Sydney Environment Institute, The University of Sydney, February 2014.

  • Awards

    • The Vice Chancellor's Award for Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning
    • NAIDOC Award - I was nominated and had a special recognition for my work to attain such a wonderful award the ‘2018 Kullari NAIDOC Award for PERSON OF THE YEAR’ for all my contributions to Aboriginal research and education through Nulungu Institute at the University of Notre Dame Broome