4.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership | Reconciliation Australia Governance Toolkit 4.1.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concepts and leadership structures The English terms ‘leadership’ and ‘leader’ are foreign or unknown in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. There is often no precisely equivalent word. There are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders—men and women—but their leadership is exercised according to different values and criteria than it is in the wider Australian society. Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, Martumili Artist. The Indigenous language of governance “Ultimately a Yolngu leader is someone to whom other people listen, a person who can create consensus… Thus, leadership is only conferred conditionally, and has to be constantly earned. “Amongst the Pintupi, the closest equivalents to the term ‘leader’ are mayutju (boss), tjila (big one) and ngurrakartu (custodian). Leadership is complex because: 4.1.2 Networks of leaders Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership is networked leadership. 4.1.3 Representation and accountability
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations Jeannie Herbert Keynote "The Power of Imagining: Time to go there to discover Indigenous educational success" Professor Jeannie Herbert, Foundation Chair of Indigenous Studies, Charles Sturt University I begin my presentation by acknowledging the traditional owners, past and present, of this land - the custodians of the Indigenous knowledges that enrich our lives - and I thank them for allowing me to speak here today. As an Aboriginal educator, I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my professional colleagues and the other educational leaders, attending this national conference. I thank my colleague, Brian Giles-Browne, for his introduction of the theme for this conference: "Successful Classrooms for Indigenous Students". Some of you may disagree with the 'big picture' in which I was suggesting you might locate your school. And I hadn't been aware that we had achieved any great outcomes in terms of closing the gap, but now we are told we've got a full scale 'revolution' on our hands!
Leadership