Bundanon

Although born on Ngiyampaa Country in Northwestern NSW, I am of my mother’s Country, Jerrinja, on the South Coast of NSW.

I have lived and worked most of my adult life on Ngunnawal, Ngambri Country. I hold an academic position at the University of Canberra (UC) as a teacher in the Indigenous minor and a researcher. Some of my research is with the Faculty of Arts and Design Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts and Artefacts Teaching Collection. I am the curator of that collection. My title at UC is First Nations Research Fellow with the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research. Whilst writing my PhD I took a class with award-winning Barkanji writer, Paul Collis. This set me on the path of creative writing. I submitted a manuscript to the David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer in 2018 and was shortlisted.

In Residence at Bundanon

I intend to edit the manuscript I sent in for the David Unaipon award during my residence at Bundanon. The black&write team at the State Library of Queensland provided me with a structural report which I will use in editing, and the creation of one or two new vignettes. The manuscript is a book of short stories for 8 to 12-year-olds. My key aim is to make the stories, that relate to Jerrinja Country, flow into each other to build a broader picture than the original manuscript allowed.