Thought Leadership Series: Self-Determination in Education

Dr Anita Heiss AM D.Litt is a proud member of the Wiradyuri nation of central New South Wales and one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors publishing across genres including non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial fiction and children’s fiction.

Anita’s children’s literature includes Who Am I? The diary of Mary Talence, Our Race for Reconciliation, Harry’s Secret, Matty’s Comeback, Koori Princess and Kicking Goals with Goodesy and Magic, co-written with Adam Goodes and Micheal O’Loughlin. She also wrote two kids’ novels with students from La Perouse Public School -Yirra and Her Deadly Dog Demon and Demon Guards the School Yard. Her children’s picture book Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) is about the Great Flood of Gundagai.

Anita’s non-fiction works include Am I Black Enough for You?, Dhuuluu-Yala (To Talk Straight) – Publishing Aboriginal Literature, and as editor, Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia and The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature which she co-edited with Peter Minter.

As an advocate for Indigenous literacy, Anita has worked in remote communities as a role model, encouraging young Indigenous Australians to write their own stories. Anita is a Lifetime Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and a proud Ambassador for GO Foundation. 

Lucy Amon is a Quandamooka woman with cultural connections to Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). Lucy is Head of First Nations Strategy and Engagement at North Melbourne Football Club and a board member for the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership. She has held roles in both government and independent schools in Victoria as an Indigenous program's coordinator, and as a classroom teacher. Lucy has also been a First Nations education consultant in the private sector.