Indigenous Australian leader Noel Pearson will speak at the second QUT Meanjin Oration on August 14, presenting on the topic of the Referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament.
A Guugu Yimidhirr man from the Cape York Peninsula, Mr Pearson is a lawyer, an expert consultant on Indigenous rights, and one of the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
He will be interviewed following the Meanjin Oration by Dr Amy McQuire, a Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist, writer and podcaster. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Communication at QUT.
Mr Pearson has recently declared the Voice debate the most important event in 250 years and says he hopes the Yes Campaign message of unity, trust and friendship will prevail over the voices of fear and division.
The Meanjin Oration series was established by the Carumba Institute.
QUT Vice Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil AO said the Meanjin Oration aimed to encourage conversations about issues that are important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that can help lead to real, meaningful change.
“In a year when the country will be asked to vote on a First Nations Voice to Parliament, the opportunity to hear from community leaders about the issues important to them is essential,” Professor Sheil said.
“At QUT, we try to ensure that education is not just student-focussed, but that all staff, researchers and students have access to First Nations perspectives, and we are providing opportunities for all members of the QUT community to educate themselves in the lead up to the referendum.”
Registrations are now open to attend the 2023 Meanjin Oration in person or online, held on Monday, August 14, at QUT Gardens Theatre. The oration can also be viewed on the website after the event.
About Noel Pearson
Noel Pearson comes from the Guugu Yimithirr community of Hope Vale.
For over 30 years, Mr Pearson has pursued key agendas to achieve land rights and socioeconomic development outcomes for Cape York. He co-founded the Cape York Land Council and negotiated with the Keating government to establish the Native Title Act 1993 after the High Court’s landmark Mabo decision rejected the fiction of terra nullius.
After seeing socioeconomic problems that were not present in his childhood accumulate, Mr Pearson has focused on pioneering empowering and holistic approaches to welfare reform, and transforming educational outcomes for disadvantaged students.
He is the founder of Cape York Partnership and Good to Great Schools Australia and has co-founded other organisations also dedicated to ameliorating entrenched disadvantage of ‘The Bottom Million’.
Mr Pearson served as a member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians and the Referendum Council. He is currently a member of the First Nations Referendum Working Group and continues to advocate for structural reforms to empower Indigenous people.
About Amy McQuire
Amy McQuire is a Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist and writer. She has more than 17 years’ experience working predominately in Aboriginal and independent media. She was the editor of Aboriginal rights magazine Tracker. Amy co-hosts the investigative podcast Curtain with human rights lawyer Martin Hodgson and won a Clarion award for Indigenous affairs reporting in 2020.
She has written widely for news publications locally and globally. Her first children’s book Day Break, co-authored with Matt Chun, was released in 2021. Her first non-fiction book Black Witness will be published in 2024. Amy completed her PhD into media representations of violence against Aboriginal women at the University of Queensland and is currently a post-doctoral fellow in QUT’s School of Communication.
