Writing for Truth Telling: Dr Jackie Huggins in conversation with Cheryl Leavy at Sun Stadium

To celebrate this year's NAIDOC theme The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy, please join us for a conversation between Dr Jackie Huggins and Cheryl Leavy as they explore the nuances of truth telling through published and forthcoming work. They will discuss the legacy that Dr Huggins and younger generations are creating together, as well as how current projects progress her lifelong contribution to First Nations rights. 

Following the conversation, please join us for afternoon tea. This event will be held outdoors, please dress accordingly.  

This UQ Arts event is presented by the University of Queensland Art Museum and the University of Queensland Press. This event will talk place at Sun Stadium, UQ Lakes Precinct, adjacent to UQ Lakes Bus Station.

Sun Stadium was commissioned by UQ Arts for the inauguration of the UQ Lakes Precinct in 2024. For the creation of this sundial, artist and choreographer Amrita Hepi worked in collaboration with poet Jazz Money, Dialogue Office’s Christopher Bassi, Five Mile Radius, and Sibling Architecture to realise this commission with sustainably sourced materials.  

Speaker Bios 

Dr Jackie Huggins AM FAHA, a member of the Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru peoples, is currently leading the work for Treaty/Treaties in Queensland. In popular demand as a speaker on Aboriginal issues, she is a well-known historian and author, with articles published widely in Australia and internationally. Her acclaimed biography of her mother, Auntie Rita, was published in 1994 and in 2022 her biography of her father, Jack of Hearts: QX11594 was published, as well as a new edition of her seminal work Sister Girl: Reflections on Tiddaism, Identity and Reconciliation. She was the former Co-Chair National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, former member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Co-Chair Reconciliation Australia, the State Library Board of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was Co-Commissioner for Queensland for the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, and for several years was a Judge of the annual David Unaipon Award. She is Director, Indigenous Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Queensland. 

Cheryl Leavy is an award-winning writer of non-fiction, poetry, and children's literature. Her picture book Yanga – Mother was published by UQP in 2024 and was recently shortlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award. Cheryl has also been awarded the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Indigenous Poetry, a Varuna Residency, and a Queensland Writers Fellowship. Her poetry has been published by Cordite, Griffith Review and UQP, and has been commissioned by art museums here and internationally.  Cheryl has served on many boards including the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Writers Festival and the Institute of Modern Art and is passionate about using the power of language and culture to advance human rights, with a focus on climate and land justice.