Jackie Huggins
Jackie Huggins is of the Bidjara (central Queensland) and Birri-Gubba Juru (north Queensland) peoples. She has several publications to her name, including Auntie Rita (with her mother Rita Huggins, 1994) and Sister Girl (1999).
In 2001 Jackie Huggins was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to the Indigenous community, particularly for her work with reconciliation, literacy, women's issues and social justice. In 2000, she had been honoured with the Queensland Premier's Millenium [sic] Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs.
Jackie received a Doctor of the University honoris causa from the University of Queensland on 4 December 2006 and the position of Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences on 8 December 2006. She was also named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year for 2007. In 2008 she co-chaired the Indigenous stream of the 2020 Summit. She is an Adjunct Professor for the Centre of Indigenous History, Australian National University (2010) Canberra.
Jackie is the former Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland. She is currently working as a consultant and participates on a number of boards in the following capacity:
- Queensland Public Service Commissioner
- Member of the Australian Heritage Council
- Director of the Telstra Foundation
- Member of the Indigenous Reference Group – Queensland Centre for Domestic & Family Violence Research, Central Queensland University, Mackay
- Director of the Silver Lining Foundation
Former positions include:
- Co-Chair, Reconciliation Australia
- Director, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Western Australia
- Board Member of Pacific Film and Television Corporation
- Council Member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- Co-Chair, Independent Inquiry into Release Policy and Practice in the Queensland Prison System
- Member of the Steering Committee of the National Indigenous Representative Body (National Congress of Australia's First Peoples)
- Chair of the Dare to Lead National Steering Committee
Other highlights of her appointments include Executive Member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (1994-2000); Chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council (2001); Commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (1997); and a member of the ATSIC Review Panel (2003).
