Prof Anne Pattel-Gray

Keynote Speaker in 2022

Theme: Protest/Resistance & Radical Discipleship

Biography (from University of Divinity):

Professor Anne Pattel-Gray was appointed Professor of Indigenous Studies and inaugural Head of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity and commenced the role in August 2022. She is a descendant of the Bidjara / Kari Kari people of Queensland and a celebrated Aboriginal leader.

Throughout her career, she has exercised numerous leadership and consultancy roles in First Nations organisations and not-for-profit agencies and has an outstanding track record in ecumenism, especially through the World Council of Churches.

In 1995, Professor Pattel-Gray was the first Aboriginal person to be awarded a PhD at the University of Sydney, published as The Great White Flood: Racism in Australia. She has previously held Visiting Professorships at Gurukul Theological Seminary, Harvard University and Otago University.

Through her research, education and leadership Professor Pattel-Gray has been a critical and influential activist in seeking justice and equity for Indigenous peoples and in developing cultural frameworks and practices built on respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.