Marking the 50th Anniversary of Papua New Guinean Independence, please join us for a morning of discussion with researchers and other important thinkers on the history, culture and future of the country.

10:00am: Arrivals

10:15am: Acknowledgment of Country and opening remarks from UQ Art Museum Great Ocean Scholar Aunty Sana Balai and Acting Curator Jocelyn Flynn

10:30am - 11:30am: PNG Futures and Creative Practices with Dr Irene Semos, Brenda Cangah, Vanessa Gordon and Dr Kirsten McGavin begins.

11:45am - 12:45pm: Politics of Independence with Associate Professor Ian Kemish, Sana Balai, Dr Nicole George, and Sean Jacobs begins.

Finalised speakers to be announced soon.

Register for SUNA TOK TOK and stay for an afternoon of food, music, and performance!

This program is presented in conjunction with the first local presentation of Yuryial Eric Bridgman and Haus Yuriyal’s installation SUNA (Middle Ground) 2020.

Sana (Susan) Balai is a Bougainville Elder born to the Nakaripa clan of Hakö peoples from Buka Island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB), Papua New Guinea. Sana is a distinguished curator, writer and researcher renowned for her transformative work with Pacific, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections. Throughout her career, she has championed ethical and cultural protocols, ensuring respectful engagement with both artifacts and communities. Sana is currently the Mittelheuser Great Ocean Scholar (in-residence) with the University of Queensland Art Museum. She is working of documenting her family history with the aim and vision to preserve as much of her cultural heritage as possible.

Brenda Cangah is a respected Community Development Practitioner with over 20 years of advocacy for women, children, and vulnerable community members across Papua New Guinea and Australia. Her lifelong commitment to social equity, cultural dignity, and participatory development is evident in every facet of her work from grassroots humanitarian response to institutional policy research. Brenda is currently completing her PhD at the University of Queensland, where her ethnographic research critically explores health access and structural vulnerability in Australia’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. Brenda’s scholarship draws on Critical Medical Anthropology and Structural Vulnerability Theory to center the lived experiences of Pacific Island PALM scheme workers and propose culturally responsive policy reforms.

Dr Nicole George’s research focuses on the gendered politics of conflict and peacebuilding, violence, security and participation. Since the early 2000s, she has conducted research in the Pacific Islands region focusing on gender politics, gendered security and post conflict transition in Fiji, New Caledonia, Bougainville and Solomon Islands. She has worked in collaboration with women's organisations, women decision-makers and women policy-makers in these settings to progress aspects of this work. She has led large, externally funded, comparative research projects examining how women's rights to security are institutionalised in Pacific Island countries (2013-2016) and where and how women participate in post-conflict transformation (as part of a broader collaborative ARC Linkage Project (2016-2020). She is the author of a new book published by Oxford University Press (2025) titled Between Rights and Rightfulness: Regulation Gender and Violence in the Pacific Islands. In 2025 she also collaborated with the Pacific Islands Forum on the production of a Guidance Note on Women Peace and Security to guide member states' policy implementation in this area into the future.

Vanessa Gordon is a Tolai woman from Bitapabeke Village in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Born in Papua New Guinea and raised in Hawaii, Vanessa now lives on the Yugambeh Country (Gold Coast, Australia.)

As a published poet, Vanessa is deeply passionate about storytelling and cultural preservation. Her creative writing draws inspiration from the Gunantuna (Tolai) people, weaving narratives that reflect their rich heritage. The stories of migration, history, ceremonies, legends, societies, and moieties are significant themes in her work. Through her poetry and prose, Vanessa aims to share these important cultural narratives with her readers, inviting them on a magical journey filled with the beauty and depth of her heritage.

Vanessa's commitment to storytelling not only honors her roots but also serves to connect diverse audiences with the vibrant traditions and histories of the Gunantuna people. She believes in the power of words to bridge cultures.

Sean Jacobs is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian writer, and government relations and public policy specialist. He has worked with all levels of government in Australia, New Zealand and PNG, and provides regular commentary and analysis in various publications and in media on strategic issues and the Pacific. He is the author of Winners Don't Cheat: Advice for young Australians from a young Australian (2018), Neville Bonner: A Biography (2021) and Thoroughly Modern Patriot (2022). Sean is currently a Griffith Asia Institute Industry Fellow. He holds a BA (International Relations) and a Master of Business Administration from Griffith University, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism from Macquarie University.

Adjunct Associate Professor Ian Kemish AM is a former senior Australian diplomat and company executive with interest and expertise in the history of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and in Australia’s engagement with those regions. Ian’s 25-year Government career included service as High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ambassador to Germany, Head of the Prime Minister’s International division and DFAT’s Southeast Asia Division. He divides his time between UQ, writing, personal philanthropy, business advisory work and the not-for-profit sector.

Dr Kirsten McGavin is a mixed race woman of Aotearoa New Zealand Pākehā and Papua New Guinean (Lavongai, New Ireland Province) descent. She has a PhD in anthropology and, more recently, completed a master’s degree in creative writing. Her research interests—in both fields—include: identity, place, representation, belonging, material culture and popular culture. Kirsten is the compiler and editor of World Beyond: An Anthology of Papua New Guinean Speculative Fiction - the first book of its kind from PNG.

Dr Irene Semos is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Indigenous Future's Centre at UQ. Irene is from Manus and Bougainville in Papua New Guinea with a passion to reimagine the work of transdisciplinary research applying indigenous methodologies in public health, climate change and higher education.

She is an alumna of the University of Queensland where she attained both her Master of Public Health and PhD. The work of Irene’s PhD examined ways of indigenising the health workers’ curriculum in Papua New Guinea. She applied the Melanesian methodology of Pasin as storying in her research to inform curriculum and practice. Through her community engagement, Irene has led conversations in women's politics, capacity building of health workers, curriculum review, climate change and water, hygiene and sanitation in PNG. She is a Women Leading and Influencing alumna of the Pacific and an Australia-PNG network Emerging Leader.

Contact the host of SUNA TOK TOK: Symposium