Andrew Smith
CEO Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council
Andrew Smith, a proud Wannaruah, Anaiwan Aboriginal man, has been working as a Chief Executive Officer at Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council for 19 years. Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council is part of the Membership Organizations industry, and located in Australia. Balancing the diversity of traditions & culture ‘versus’ enterprise & commercial development, he successfully oversees a portfolio of business units that are independently sustainable and return a social and economic benefit to his community through training, development and employment outcomes. One in particular being Sand Dune Adventures; a large player in the tourism industry of Port Stephens.
Leroy Wilkinson-Maher
Founder and Managing Director of Dhiira
Leroy is a Worimi and Ngarrindjeri man born in Taree, regional New South Wales. Having spent the majority of his life in Newcastle, New South Wales, he is a young Aboriginal leader that has a passion for innovation and positive change. With a background in Banking and Finance, Leroy has had a successful Executive Leadership career in the Aboriginal Not-For-Profit Employment sector and is the Founder and Managing Director of Dhiira Pty Ltd, an Aboriginal Consultancy Business focusing on bringing true inclusion into business through Culture.
Kaylie Salvatori
Director | Indigenous Design Strategist of COLA Studio
A Saltwater Budawang (Yuin) Woman, Kaylie is a landscape architect, Indigenous design strategist, educator, researcher and artist. Specialising in Indigenous design collaboration, Kaylie’s work centres Country as design generator and driver, asserting the right and need for Traditional Owners and Indigenous knowledge holders to hold power in the design process.
Kaylie works in public, community and private spaces, emphasising the importance of (re)connecting to the systems, plants and animals that support the health of Country and therefore communities. Kaylie’s work is driven by her cultural heritage, as she works to reconnect herself with Country, Indigenous knowledge and community through her design processes.
Luke Hannaford
Architect at CHROFI
CHROFI, founded in 2000 following the win of an international design competition is an internationally recognised and awarded Architectural firm practising in Sydney (on Gayemagal Land). Luke Hannaford was the Project Architect for the North Head Viewing Platforms project in Car-rang-gel (Manly, NSW) working alongside director Steven Figuera. CHROFI approached the project with no expectations, engaging consciously with the traditional owners of the land (D'harawal peoples and Bangawarra) to achieve a design which connects with Country. Connecting with Country was central to the design from the outset, ensuring that the lookouts acknowledge and connect with the history, stories and place that is called Car-rang gel. Driven by this approach, the lookouts are designed to merge comfortably with the landscape by expressing the durable and earthy materiality of the surrounding sandstone and vegetation.
Jo Paterson Kinniburgh and Shannon Foster
Bangawarra
Bangawarra is a legal partnership between D’harawal eora Knowledge Keeper and Sydney Registered Traditional Owner Shannon Foster and Wugulora architecture academic and spatial practitioner Jo Paterson Kinniburgh. The team specialises in the spatial implications of sustainably caring for Country.