Jackie Huggins

She co-chaired the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples until 2019, when she was appointed co-chair of Queensland Government's Treaty Working Group and Eminent Treaty Process Panel. She has also served on many other boards and organisations in various capacities, and published several books. In April 2025, Huggins was appointed as the inaugural Elder-in-residence at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

• Name — Jackie Huggins • Honorific Suffix — FAHA • Born — 19 August 1956 • Birthplace — Ayr, Queensland • Mother — Rita Huggins • Occupation — Author, Aboriginal rights activist, historian

Jacqueline Gail Huggins was born in Ayr, Queensland, on 19 August 1956, the daughter of Jack and Rita Huggins. She is an Aboriginal Australian woman of the Bidjara/Pitjara, Birri Gubba, and Juru peoples of Queensland. Her family moved to Inala in Brisbane when she was young and she attended Inala State High School. The family was poor, and her father, Jack, died aged 38 from injuries sustained when working on the Thai-Burma railway as a prisoner of war during World War II. Huggins, with her sister Ngaire Jarro, wrote the story of their father, Jack, who spent three years as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II, and was forced to work along with around 13,000 others on the Burma-Thailand railway. The book, entitled Jack of Hearts: QX11594, was published in 2022. Jack was not treated badly upon his return, as many Aboriginal soldiers were, and became the first Aboriginal man to work for Australia Post, the first Aboriginal surf lifesaver in Ayr in the 1930s, and the only Indigenous man to play rugby league both before and after the war. Huggins left school at age 15 to assist her family and from the age of 16 worked as a typist with the Australian Broadcasting Commission at Toowong, Queensland, from 1972. Huggins enrolled at the University of Queensland in 1985, graduating with a BA (Hons) in history and anthropology in 1987. She earned a Diploma of Education (Aboriginal Education) in 1988. Part of her practical training included eight weeks teaching in Ti-Tree, north of Alice Springs. Huggins completed an honours degree in history/women's studies (1989) from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia.

At the age of 16, in 1972, Huggins started working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as a typist at Toowong, Queensland. In 1978 she joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs (DAA) in Canberra. There she met several Aboriginal activists, including Charles Perkins and his "angels": Vince Copley, John Moriarty, Joe Croft, Ben Mason, and others. She was often the only Indigenous woman in the room, which helped her career. In 1980 she returned to Brisbane and was a field officer in the DAA. She was appointed head of the first women's unit when she was 28 (around 1984), overseeing around 50 women. Evelyn Scott, chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, was a mentor to Huggins. Huggins was the chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council, co-commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (1995–1997) and a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the AIATSIS Council, and the National NAIDOC Committee (1979–1983). In 2001 Huggins became co-chair of Reconciliation Australia (with Fred Chaney and Mark Leibler). and the Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) in 2003. She has also served on many other boards and organisations in various capacities. She has published a wide range of essays and studies dealing with Indigenous history and identity. She is the author of Sistergirl (1998), and co-author, with her mother Rita, of the critically acclaimed biography Auntie Rita (1994). Huggins was a member of the working party involved in the creation of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) in 2012, and As of 2021 remains patron of the organisation. Huggins was deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit at the University of Queensland until 2017, and then co-chaired the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples with Rod Little until 2019. In 2019, after the Queensland Government announced its interest in pursuing a pathway to an Indigenous treaty process, the Treaty Working Group and Eminent Treaty Process Panel were set up, with Huggins and Michael Lavarch co-chairing the Eminent Panel. Their Path to Treaty Report was tabled in Queensland Parliament in February 2020. Huggins said that a process of truth-telling, acknowledging the history of Australia, is a "vital component to moving on". On 13 August 2020, the government announced that it would be supporting the recommendation to move forward on a path to treaty with First Nations Queenslanders. In April 2025, Huggins was appointed as the inaugural ABC Elder-in-residence. In this role, she will mentor Indigenous staff members and stand up for them.

• 1996: Auntie Rita won the 1996 Stanner Award for Indigenous Literature from AIATSIS. • 2000: Queensland Premier's Millennium Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs • 2001: Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her work with Indigenous people, particularly in reconciliation, literacy, women's issues and social justice. • 2001: Centenary Medal for distinguished service to the community through the promotion of reconciliation • 2006: Doctor of the University of Queensland honoris causa • 2007: Fellow the Australian Academy of Humanities • 2007: University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year • 2022: John Oxley Library Award

Huggins' son was born in 1985. She is a longtime friend of actor, director, and arts executive Rhoda Roberts, who in 2021 was appointed Elder-in-residence at Australia's other public broadcaster, SBS.

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• (Reissued in 2020.) * * *