Showcasing Indigenous Scholarship in Justice - Black Knowing Seminar

Join the Carumba Institute for the last seminar in the Showcasing Indigenous Scholarship Seminar Series!

To end the 2025 series, we have invited three deadly Blackademics, Uncle Joe Geia, Dr Raylene Nixon and Dr Amy McQuire, to present on their scholarly and professional practice in Justice.

Presentations will be followed by a short Q&A segment.

If you would like to attend via Zoom, please email carumbainstitute@qut.edu.au.

About the Showcasing Indigenous Scholarship Seminar Series

This seminar series presents Black academics and Higher degree research students at QUT with an opportunity to showcase research and innovative teaching and learning approaches that encapsulate the engagement and application of Indigenous knowledges. Such knowledges have worked to challenge the Eurocentric domination of curricula and research practice using the mandate of the Indigenous Australian Research Strategy. Knowledge sharing as a means of reciprocal relations is a key feature of the strategy, and the seminar series affords occasions where this takes place.

Meet the Scholars:

Uncle Joe Geia

Uncle Joe Geia is a Guugu Yimidhirr/Kaurareg and Torres Strait Island renowned singer/songwriter, guitarist, yidaki player and influential figure in the development of contemporary Indigenous music. He writes of bravery and beauty, telling of Aboriginal life in Australia, of the quest for justice and belonging, of history, family, and love. Uncle Joe has made significant contributions to the arts, and as the writer of renowned songs as Yil Lull and Uncle Willie, he remains an active recording and performing artist sharing his cultures through music. Uncle Joe came to prominence with legandary band No Fixed Address, and was a founding member of the The Black Arm Band featuring in the documentary Murundak: Songs of Freedom airing on SBS in 2011 to much acclaim.

Uncle Joe is undertaking his PhD at QUT through the School of Public Health and Social Work. Uncle Joe was the orator for QUT's 2024 Meanjin Oration. He told his story of challenge, success, sadness, joy, ongoing struggle and love, a story that has also become the template for his PhD thesis 'From Rations to Wages to Treaty'.

Dr Raylene Nixon

Dr Raylene Nixon is a proud descendant of the Gunggari people of southwest Queensland and the Remarkable Women of the West. Drawing on the strength, resilience, and resistance of the matriarchs she grew up with, a personal loss ignited her passion for creating a better world. Guided by the belief that every person has basic human rights—regardless of race, colour, class, or religion—and that there is no place for racism, she has committed her life to advocating for acceptance, tolerance, and kindness in the pursuit of social justice and accountability. As a senior lecturer with more than ten years of experience in the academy, her research focus now is on (re)addressing Indigenous deaths in custody and critically examining how grieving families are often limited to coronial inquests as their only avenue to seek justice.

Raylene's work is driven by a deep commitment to equity and inclusivity, inspiring her to advance initiatives that promote systemic change. She is a powerful advocate for institutional, structural, and systemic reforms, appealing to human compassion and common sense.

Dr Amy McQuire

Dr Amy McQuire is a Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman from Rockhampton, Central Queensland. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Carumba Institute. She received her PhD from the University of Queensland.

Dr McQuire's research interest is in race and representation, focusing specifically on the crisis of disappeared Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, as well as the violence of the justice system. Her background is in journalism, where she has over two decades experience working in independent and Aboriginal media. She has previously been the editor of two national Indigenous publications (National Indigenous Times and Tracker Magazine), and has been a correspondent for NITV National News, BuzzFeed News Australia and New Matilda. Her writing has been featured widely, and she has co-hosted the investigative podcast Curtain the Podcast for the past eight years.

In 2021 she published her first children's book Day Break and in 2024, published her first non-fiction text Black Witness: the Power of Indigenous Media. Amy is also a mother of two and enjoys reading in her downtime.