Professor Sandra Wooltorton

Senior Research Fellow, Nulungu Research Institute
B.Ed, BA (Hons), M.Ed,  PhD

Email: sandra.wooltorton@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9192 0614 or 0448 958 242

  • Biography

    Sandra Wooltorton is a Professor and Senior Research Fellow with the Nulungu Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Broome Campus. She is a trans-disciplinary researcher, with a background in cultural geography and education, and a deep interest in applying Aboriginal philosophy to generate solutions to problems of society and environment. She leads a number of research projects including Kimberley Transitions: Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home. In 2021, she was fortunate to co-lead and co-participate in Voicing Rivers, a writing project to produce a series of publications for a Special Issue called: Voicing Rivers of the Journal – “River Research and Applications”.

    Sandra is interested in prefigurative cultures, for co-constructing the world we want to live in; or living the change we want to see. Her focus is in answering research questions such as these: We not me – how does leadership support the interests of Aboriginal and multi-species justice? How do we learn biocultural co-stewardship, for learning into a culture of flourishing within our bioregions? In the Kimberley, the answers are all around us – in Aboriginal cultural ways of being and knowing, in landscapes and in Aboriginal knowledge holders. As West Australians, how do we clear pathways to recognise the value and preciousness of Rivers, Country and Aboriginal tradition? Some of these questions will be explored through a forthcoming special issue of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education called, Indigenous Philosophy in Environmental Education: Relearning How to Love, Feel, Hear, and Live with Place. Also see: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8677-870X and https://works.bepress.com/sandra-wooltorton/.

  • Teaching areas

    Over the years Sandra has taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, in Australian city and remote schools, colleges and universities. In universities she has taught across a wide range of fields, from Aboriginal studies and sustainability to social science education and classroom management. She has won a number of teaching awards, including an Australian Learning and Teaching Council citation: "For making consistent progress over 10 years in the refining of a teaching/learning approach conducive to transformative learning for sustainability" (2009).

    PhD Supervision

    • ‘‘Ngala Kaditijiny Our Culture’ Dispute Practices of contemporary Noongar women
    • Laudato Si’ in Broome:
      • A Community Development Study
      • Ecological Conversion at a School
    • The role of school psychologists in enabling and promoting school staff wellbeing in rural and remote schools in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
    • The Wellbeing of Land, Living Waters, and Indigenous Australian People
    • Articulating and Enacting Hope on Climate
    • Wetlands Environmental Education

  • Research expertise

    • Community development
    • Transformative learning
    • Ecological Philosophy
    • Regenerative education and applications in practice
    • Environmental Education
    • Language, Discourse and Narratives - Deficit to Potential
    • Facilitating Transitions – Learning Together
    • Transforming Tertiary Education Systems

  • Books

    • Wooltorton, S., Humphries, C., Winmar, H., Collard, G. (1992). Noongar our way: a Noongar language course. East Perth, WA: Noongar Language and Culture Centre.

  • Book chapters

    • Wooltorton, S., & Poelina, A. (2023). Habitat. In N. Wallenhorst & C. Wulf (Eds.), Handbook of the Anthropocene: Humans between heritage and future (Vol. 1, pp. 1053-1058). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25910-4.
    • Wooltorton, S., & Reason, P. (2023). Experiential knowing with the more-than-human world. In P. White, R. Tytler, J. P. Ferguson, & J. Cripps Clark (Eds.), Methodological Approaches to STEM Education Research (Vol. 4, pp. 187 - 206). ISBN: 10:1-5275-2589-9. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/resources/pdfs/978-1-5275-2589-4-sample.pdf
    • Wooltorton, S., Poelina, A., and Claire, H. (2023). Kincentric Geography and Re-Indigenisation: Coming Home to Family. In Reason, P. Learning How Land Speaks. https://peterreason.substack.com/p/kincentric-geography-and-re-indigenization
    • Aniere, C. L., Wooltorton, S., & Boyd, D. (2022). Kids on Country: An Indigenous Programme in Australia. In N. McCloud, E. E. Okon, D. Garrison, D. Boyd, & A. Daly (Eds.), Global Perspectives of Early Childhood Education: Valuing Local Cultures (Vol. 1, pp. 13-24). Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781529717822
    • Logan, B., Dimer, M., Aniere, C., & Wooltorton, S. (2023). Chapter 15: Learning at Home and in the Community: Australia Case Study. In N. McCloud, E. E. Okon, D. Garrison, D. Boyd, & A. Daly (Eds.), Global Perspectives of Early Childhood Education: Valuing Local CulturesLondon: Sage. ISBN 9781529717822.
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P. (2019). Layers of meanings in our landscapes: hiding in full view. In Ellis, M. Critical Global Semiotics: Understanding Sustainable Transformational Citizenship.https://www.crcpress.com/Critical-Global-Semiotics-Understanding-Sustainable-Transformational-Citizenship/Ellis/p/book/9780367076986 London, Routledge.
    • Wooltorton, S. (2019). Cultural solutions: a North West Australian reflection on Sustainable Development Goal 3. In T. Savelyeva, S. Lee, & H. Banack (Eds.), SDG 3 - Good health and wellbeing: re-calibrating the SDG agenda. Concise Guides to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Vol. 3, pp. 29-56). ISBN: 9781789737127. UK: Emerald.
    • White, P., Wooltorton, S., & Palmer, M. (2018). Chapter 11, Confronting, Collaborating and Crafting: An Enlivening Methodology for Academic Ecojustice Activism. In Black, Alison. & Garvis, Suzanne. Women activating agency in academia: metaphors, manifestos and memoir. Pp. 111-122. London and New York; Routledge. ISBN 9781138551138 (hardback); ISBN 9781315147451 (ebook)
    • Wooltorton, Sandra (2012). Sustainability: ambiguity and aspiration in teacher education. In Down, B. and Smyth, J. "Critical voices in teacher education: teaching for social justice in conservative times". Springer.
    • Wooltorton, Sandra (2007). A classroom teacher’s reflection on learning sustainability, in Zandvliet, D. & Fisher, D. "Sustainable communities and sustainable environments". New York: Sense.
    • Wooltorton, S. (2006). "Quality Criteria for ESD-Schools: Guidelines to Enhance the Quality of Education for Sustainable Development [Book Review]" Australian journal of environmental education Vol. 22 Iss. 1, p. 126 – 127.
    • Wooltorton, Sandra (2006). A participatory approach to learning sustainability, in Leal Filho, W. (Ed.) "Innovation, education and communication for sustainable development". ISSN: 1434-3819. New York: Peter Lang.
    • Wooltorton, S. (2003). Education for Sustainability: A Background Paper Prepared for the State Sustainability Strategy. In: “Western Australia, Hope for the future: the Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy”. Perth, WA: Department of Premier and Cabinet. (In Additional CD Rom)
    • Wooltorton, Sandra (1997). Creating 21st century education policy, in Book: Booth, Michael and Hogan, Trevor: Ambivalence and hope: Social theory and policy making in a globalising, post-modern Australia. Murdoch, Australia: Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Murdoch University. ISBN: 0-86905-553-4.
    • Wooltorton, Sandra and Quartermaine, Linda (1996). Aboriginal studies for Western Australian Pre-Service Teachers, in Book: Teaching the teachers: Indigenous Australian studies. Sydney, Australia: Faculty of Professional Studies, UNSW. ISBN: 0-7334-0433-2.
    • Calgaret, T., Whitehurst, R., & Wooltorton, S. (1988). Nyungar language project. In B. Harvey & S. McGinty (Eds.), Learning my way: special edition of Wikaru 16 (Vol. 16, pp. 39-48). ISBN: 0 7298 0068 7. Mount Lawley: Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies & Department of Aboriginal and Intercultural Studies.

  • Edited books and journal special issues

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Poelina, A., Perdrisat, M., Wooltorton, S., & Mulligan, E. L. (2023). Feeling and Hearing Country as Research Method. Environmental Education Research, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2023.2239531
    • Poelina, A., Paradies, Y., Wooltorton, S., Mulligan, E. L., Guimond, L., Jackson-Barrett, L., & Blaise, M. (2023). Learning to care for Dangaba. Australian journal of environmental education, 39(3), 375-389. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2023.30
    • Poelina, A., Paradies, Y., Wooltorton, S., Guimond, L., Jackson-Barrett, L., & Blaise, M. (2023). Indigenous philosophy in environmental education: Editorial. Australian journal of environmental education, 39(3), 269-278. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2023.28
    • Wooltorton, S. (2023). Indigenous and decolonizing studies in education: mapping the long view - Edited by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang. (2019) NY, OX: Routledge*. Australian journal of environmental education, 39(3), 423-425. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2022.52
    • Wooltorton, S., Guenther, J., Poelina, A., Blaise, M., Collard, L., & White, P. (2022). Learning regenerative cultures: Indigenous nations in higher education renewal in Australia. Asia Pacific Education Review. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12564-022-09789-y#citeas
    • 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
    • Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Blaise, M., Aniere, C., Horwitz, P., White, P., & Muecke, S. (2022). Regeneration time - ancient wisdom for planetary wellbeing. Australian journal of environmental education. (First View) https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2021.34
    • Wooltorton, S.; Guimond, L.; Reason, P.; Poelina, A.: Horwitz, P. (2022). River Research and Applications. Editorial: Voicing Rivers. 38/3. PP. 371-375. ISSN 1535-1459  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rra.3939
    • Wooltorton, S, Poelina, A, Collard, L. (2022). River Relationships: For the Love of River. River Research and Applications. 38/3. Special Issue: Voicing Rivers. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3854
    • RiverOfLife, M.; Unamen Shipu, R.R.; Poelina, A.; Wooltorton, S.; Guimond, L.; Sioui-Durand, G. (2021). Hearing and healing: rivers make voices intercultural.  River Research and Applications. 38/3. Special Issue: Voicing Rivers. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3843
    • Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Harben, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., Palmer, D. (2021). Sentire e ascoltare il territorio. In Lato Selvetico(59 – Equinozio D’Autunno).  http://www.sentierobioregionale.org/latoselvatico.html Translated into Italian from our 2020 publication, “Feeling and Hearing Country” in PAN.
    • Wooltorton, S, Poelina, A, Guenther, J, Blaise, M, Collard, L, White, P. (In Press). Learning for Regenerative Cultures: First Nations in Higher Education Renewal in Australia.  Asia-Pacific Education Review. SI.
    • Wooltorton, S., Guenther, J., Dwyer, A., & Wilks, J. (In-Press). Aboriginal nation: A strong Kimberley tertiary education narrative The Australian journal of Indigenous education.
    • Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Harben, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., Palmer, D. (2020). Feeling and hearing Country. In PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature(15) 6-15. http://panjournal.net/
    • Wilks, J., Dwyer, A., Wooltorton, S., & Guenther, J. (2020). “We Got a Different Way of Learning”: A message to the sector from Aboriginal students living and studying in remote communities. Australian Universities' Review, 62(2), 25-37. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/nteu/docs/aur_62_02.
    • Guenther J, Dwyer A, Wooltorton S, Wilks J (2021). Aboriginal student engagement and success in Kimberley tertiary education. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 1–9. https://doi.org/ 10.1017/jie.2021.2.
    • Wooltorton, S. Poelina, A., Collard, L, Horwitz, P, Harben, S. Palmer, D. (2020). Becoming family with place. Resurgence & Ecologist. 322. Sept/Oct. ISSN: 0034-5970: https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article5596-becoming-family-with-place.html
    • Marshall, M., Wooltorton, S., Golson, K., Dwyer, A., Kennedy, G., Albert, U., . . . Sullivan, P. (2020). Notes d'actualite: Réactions à la pandémie de la COVID-19 dans les communautés aborigènes de la région des Kimberley en Australie-Occidentale. Organisations & Territoires, 29(2), 163-170. doi:10.1522/revueot.v29n2.1168
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., Poelina, A., & Palmer, D. (2020). Sharing Place-Based Indigenous Methodology and Learnings Environmental Education Research. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1773407.
    • Wooltorton, S., Palmer, M., White, P., & Collard, L. (2020). Learning Cycles: Enriching Ways of Knowing Place. Australian journal of environmental education, 1-18 FirstView. ISSN: 0814-0626 (Print), 2049-775X (Online). doi:10.1017/aee.2020.15
    • Collard, L., Palmer, D., Harben, S., Wooltorton, S., Horwitz, P. (2020). Liveable Cities: Ways to Make Your Place in Town or City ‘Family’. Film presented to the Liveable Cities 2020 Conference, Webinar Series 9th, 16th and 23rd June: https://liveablecities.org.au/. Film located at: https://vimeo.com/428424284
    • Wooltorton, S. Poelina, A., Collard, L, Horwitz, P, Harben, S. Palmer, D, Palmer, M. (2019) Living into Indigenous landscapes: learning for regenerative futures OzEE News December
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., & Horwitz, P. (2019) Layers of Meanings in our Landscapes: Aliwa! Ni! In OzEE News, 146/March.​
    • Wooltorton, S., Toussaint, S., Poelina, A., Jennings, A., Muecke, S., Kenneally, K., Remond, J., Schipf, A. & Stredwick, S. (2019). Kimberley Transitions, Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home: Beginnings … Nulungu Research Paper 2. Broome: Nulungu Research Institute. https://www.notredame.edu.au/research/nulungu/publications/nulungu-publications
    • Wooltorton, S. Horwitz, P., & Collard, L. (2019). Groundwater interdependence, wetlands and Noongar Boodjar: living water relationships of the Gnangara groundwater system. In PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature (14). 5-23. http://panjournal.net/
    • Palmer, M., White, P., & Wooltorton, S. (2018) Embodying our future through collaboration: The change is in the doing, The Journal of Environmental Education, 49:4, 309-317, DOI: 10.1080/00958964.2017.1364214
    • Wooltorton, Sandra; Collard, Len and Horwitz, Pierre. (2017). The land still speaks: Ni, Katitj!  PAN: Philosophy Activism Nature, No. 13: 57-67. ISSN: 1443-6124. http://panjournal.net/
    • Guenther, John; Bat, Melodie; Boughton, Bob; Dwyer, Anna; Marshall, Melissa; Skewes, Janet; Stephens, Anne; Williamson, Frances; Wooltorton, Sandra. (2017). Enhancing training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learners. Research Report
    • Guenther, John; Bat, Melodie; Boughton, Bob; Dwyer, Anna; Marshall, Melissa; Skewes, Janet; Stephens, Anne; Williamson, Frances; Wooltorton, Sandra. (2017). Case studies of training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learners. Support document
    • Guenther, John; Bat, Melodie; Boughton, Bob; Dwyer, Anna; Marshall, Melissa; Skewes, Janet; Stephens, Anne; Williamson, Frances; Wooltorton, Sandra. (2016). Enhancing training advantage for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learners. In Transforming Education Research. Australian Association for Research in Education Refereed Conference Proceedings. Melbourne.
    • Wooltorton, S., Horwitz, P., Redmond, J., Wilkinson, A., & Bahn, S. (2015). Sustainability and action research in universities: towards knowledge for organisational transformation, in International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. 16/4, pp. 424 – 439.
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., & Horwitz, P. (2015). Stories want to be told: Elaap Karlaboodjar. PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature. No. 11.
    • Wooltorton, S., Palmer, M., Steele, F. (2011). A process for transition to sustainability: Implementation. In The Australian Journal of Environmental Education 27(1): 160-174.
    • Wooltorton, Sandra, Palmer, Marilyn, Goodwin, Kerry, Paine, David. (2010). A process for Transition to Sustainability: Beginning. Vol 28, No. 2, pp. 20 – 27. In The Social Educator.
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P. (2013). Kura, Yeyi, Burdawan: A Story of the Leschenault Catchment. Catholic Education Office, Bunbury.
    • Wooltorton, S., Horwitz, P. (2013). The Narrogin Region – A Storied Landscape. Catholic Education Office, Bunbury.
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P. (2013). A sense of home: a cultural geography of the Leschenault Estuary District. Report.
    • Wooltorton, S. (2009). Education for sustainable cities: The great Australian dilemma. In Maginn P., Jones R., & Haslam-Mackenzie F. City Growth, Sustainability, Vitality and Vulnerability: State of Australian Cities National Conference. Perth: Australian Sustainable Cities Research Network.
    • Wooltorton, Sandra (2006). Ecological literacy: An Australian perspective, in The social educator, Vol 24 No. 2. August.
    • Wooltorton, S. (2004). Local sustainability at school: A political reorientation, in Journal: Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, December Volume 9 Number 6. (Q1)
    • Down, B. and Wooltorton, S. (2004). Beginning teaching in rural-remote schools: Implications for critical teacher development, in Journal: Change – Transformations in education: A Journal of Theory, Research, Policy and Practice 2004, May Volume 7 Number 1.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Co-Editor, Special Issue: Aboriginal Philosophies in Environmental Education, in Australian Journal of Environmental Education. London: Cambridge.
    • Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Science, Edith Cowan University (2021-ongoing)
    • Associate Editor, Australian Journal of Environmental Education (2021-ongoing)
    • Associate Editor, Nulungu Publications (2021-ongoing)
    • Co-Editor, Special Issue: Voicing Rivers, in River Research and Applications (2021)
    • Member, Edith Cowan University’s Centre for People, Place, Planet (2021-ongoing)
    • Member, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN): Commission on Ecosystem Management. 2017 - 2021. (Subgroup: Cultural Practices and Ecosystem Management).
    • Member, Sustainability, Environment and the Arts in Education (SEAE) Research Cluster (USC): https://www.scu.edu.au/school-of-education/research/research-concentrations/sustainability-environment-and-the-arts-in-education-seae-research-cluster/
    • Member, Environs Kimberley (2014-ongoing).
    • Member of the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE). (1998 – ongoing)
    • Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) (2010 – ongoing)
    • Member, Editorial Board of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education (2010 - ongoing)

  • Community engagement

    Sandra supports a number of local and Kimberley-based social, environmental and community development organisations. For instance, see: https://www.notredame.edu.au/research/transitions

  • Awards

    • VC’s Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2009)
    • ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2009)