We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Kirli Saunders (OAM) is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and consultant. Named NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year (2020), she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts, particularly literature (2022). Kirli’s books, The Incredible Freedom Machines, Kindred, Bindi and Our Dreaming, were celebrated by the Prime Ministers, QLD, WA, Victorian Premier’s, ABIA awards, and more. Returning (Magabala) and Afloat (Hardie Grant) will take the shelves in 2024/25. Assisted by Creative Australia, Kirli developed the first five chapters of her debut novel, Yaraman.
Kirli has exhibited in galleries around the nation, for VIVID with Google, Sydney Opera House, Magabala, and Children's Ground X Fender. Her Dreamy meditiation, 'Buungbaa-ma-ndhu' was derived from a drone installation with Fremantle Biennale x Ngununggula Gallery for First Lights, 2023.
Rona is a proud Kaytetye woman from Central Australia who works with high impact organisations to create systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and solutions.
Rona is the founder of Common Ground and brings 7 years
of professional experience working across First Nations organisations and not for profits. Rona was previously the Director of First Nations at YLab, a social enterprise that puts young people with diverse lived experiences at the centre of designing and developing innovative and impactful solutions
to complex social issues. Over her career, Rona has worked in policy at the Central Land Council, the Research Unit for Indigenous Languages at the University of Melbourne, Reconciliation Victoria, and the Foundation for Young Australians.In 2020, Rona was a finalist for the Victorian Young Achiever awards, was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship. In 2019 Rona won a Diana Award and was named a 'Woman of the Future' by Women's Weekly.Through her work with First Nations communities across Australia, Rona aims to create future systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and cultures.Rona currently resides in Mpartnwe on Arrernte Country.
We are a First Nations not-for-profit that exists to centre First Nations people, knowledge and cultures. We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
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