Dr Brooke Kennedy - 2024 Rising Star Award
In recognition of her dedication to education and involvement in programs that support Aboriginal communities.
There’s a photograph of zoologist Dr Brooke Kennedy from the Tiwi Islands that beautifully captures her approach to science – and people. Barefoot, against a glistening Timor Sea backdrop, she uses a large whiteboard to record islanders’ ideas for how to manage their dog population. For the sake of the canines, their owners and the islands’ threatened species.
It was taken in 2018, when the then UNE PhD student was visiting the Tiwi capital Wurrumiyanga to run focus-group discussions. Extensive interviews and oral histories had already been recorded and the inclusive and respectful approach favoured by the Gomeroi scientist is chronicled on film.
“Like many remote Aboriginal communities, the Tiwi community had been researched countless times by what they call ‘seagulls’ –people that ‘fly in then fly out’ and are never seen again,” says Brooke, UNE’s 2024 Rising Star. “You cannot improve animal management or ensure it is sustainable without consulting local people on what they would like help to change, and then building their capacity. This means taking the time to sit and listen, and getting them involved in running the projects themselves.”
Brooke’s PhD was supported by a Vice-Chancellor’s Australian Indigenous Research Fellowship. And, instead of focusing on practical dog control measures, she developed a best-practice framework for conducting research in collaboration with stakeholders, allowing them to inform the issues and suggest suitable solutions. It has been used in several communities since.
“The work needs to be both community-led and participatory,” Brooke says. “Aboriginal people on their own country have this intimate, culturally embedded knowledge of their landscape and what occurs in it that can’t be replicated by the best-funded study project.”
Today, 33-year-old Brooke is a lecturer in Anthrozoology and Indigenous Knowledge at UNE, a mentor and support to younger Aboriginal students, and an advisor on Aboriginal issues to UNE’s senior leaders. The Australian Aboriginal Sustainability Systems unit she developed – which integrates Indigenous Knowledge and Western science – is the first of its kind at UNE and a cornerstone of our Environmental Science degrees.
“It is a big step for us, to have our up-and-coming environmental scientists receive that kind of background knowledge,” Brooke says. “It’s really important and great that UNE has taken it on board.
“Our Western education system tends to look at ‘the environment’ as something to be studied from without. For Aboriginal people, the environment is something they inhabit and live within. That calls for different ways of understanding.”
That goes for supporting Indigenous students, too.
“I was first in my family to attend university, and I try to make sure that my community knows that university is possible,” Brooke says. “My older sister is now a UNE graduate, and a cousin did zoology a few years after I did. I have discussed UNE with other high school students and encouraged them to apply and stick it out. That’s why I also mentor students as part of UNE’s TRACKS program.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today if I had not received that kind of support myself, as a high school and undergraduate student. It’s about me paying it forward and making sure today’s students have the same opportunities that I did. There are a lot of people who can give advice on how to do an Honours but not many of them can give advice on Aboriginal-based Honours work. Now that I’m here, I want to be there for any students who need it.”
Dr Rhiannon Smith is in no doubt of the impact her fellow academic is having. “Brooke is inspiring future generations of UNE graduates through her achievements … and breaking new ground every day,” she says. “Brooke is a fantastic mentor to her students and fellow staff members, and is always keen to take Aboriginal staff and students ‘under her wing’ to ensure a safe and supportive teaching and learning environment. She has contributed to conversations at the highest levels of the university to improve access to tertiary education for Aboriginal peoples.”
Since contributing to UNE’s Aboriginal Employment Strategy, Brooke is eager to establish a formal Aboriginal academic group at UNE and to contribute further to the success of Aboriginal students. And whenever the going gets tough, she takes inspiration from her mother Eunice Kennedy and grandmother Rosemary Curtis, who received an OAM last year for 60 years’ service to her community.
“Sometimes I struggle, but, like my Nan and my mum, I want to continue fighting for the next generation; for my future children or my nieces and nephews,” Brooke says. “Then it won’t be as big a burden on them when they come to uni.”
Brooke will join Anna Barwick and Peter McGilchrist to reflect on ‘Shaping UNE’s Tomorrow’ during the final alumni panel series celebrating UNE’s 70th anniversary at UNE Tamworth on October 24.
