Jackie Huggins

Jacqueline Gail "Jackie" Huggins AM, FAHA (born 19 August 1956) is an Indigenous Australian author, historian and Aboriginal rights activist of the Bidjara Central Queensland and Birri-Gubba Juru North Queensland peoples. She is the Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at the University of Queensland and a Spokesperson for Recognise.

Jackie Huggins was born in Ayr, Queensland, the daughter of Jack and Rita Huggins[1]. She is of the Bidjara / Pitjara (Central Queensland) and Biri / Birri Gubba Juru (North Queensland) peoples. Her family moved to Inala in Brisbane when she was young and she attended Inala State High School. She left school at age 15 to assist her family and worked as a typist with the Australian Broadcasting Commission at Toowong, Queensland from 1972–1978. Thereafter she joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra. In 1980 she returned to Brisbane and was a Field Officer in the Department of Aboriginal Affairs[1].

Huggins' son, John Henry Huggins, was born in 1985. Huggins enrolled at the University of Queensland in 1985, graduating with a BA (Hons) in History and Anthropology in 1987[2]. She studied a Diploma of Education (Aboriginal Education) in 1988. Part of her practical training included eight weeks teaching in Ti-Tree, north of Alice Springs. Huggins completed an Honours degree in History/Women's Studies (1989) from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia[1].

Huggins is a former Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia, the former Chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council, and has been a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the AIATSIS Council, and Co-Commissioner for Queensland for the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children. In 2001 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her work with Indigenous people, particularly in reconciliation, literacy, women's issues and social justice. In 2007 Huggins was named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year. She has published a wide range of essays and studies dealing with Indigenous history and identity. She is the author of Sistergirl (University of Queensland Press, 1998), and co-author, with Rita Huggins, of the critically acclaimed biography Auntie Rita (Aboriginal Studies Press, 1994).[3]

"We must respect each other's right to choose a collective destiny, and the opportunity to develop the legal and political rights for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples so that we may enjoy the right to maintain our culture, our heritage and our land, as a united Australia".[4]