Meet the Members and Engagement Team
Jidah Clark
Jidah is a Djab Wurrung man also with Kirrae Wurrung, Peek Wurrung, Boon Wurrung, Wamba Wemba, Taungurung and Palawa ancestry.
Jidah is a lawyer with strong policy expertise, having worked for over a decade across the private, public and community sectors. His professional experience crosses commercial litigation, official inquiries, human rights, systemic and organisational change, youth justice, child protection, community development, and business.
Jidah has made significant contributions to social and transitional justice and brings strong cross-cultural understanding to the Treaty Authority. Jidah is also dedicated to First Peoples’ cultural resurgence.
Dr Petah Atkinson
Petah is a Yorta Yorta woman with strong family connections to Wurundjeri, Taungurung and Waywurru peoples.
Petah has an extensive background in the Aboriginal health sector. She worked there for more than 25 years including leadership roles in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations. Petah has a PhD in medical education, specialising in Aboriginal health. Her research is situated within an Indigenous Research Paradigm and Indigenous Standpoint Theory.
Importantly, Petah brings highly valued expertise from her cultural safety work in academia and on-the-ground experience working with community to the Treaty Authority.
Thelma Austin
Thelma is Djab Wurrung, Kirrae Wurrung, Gunditjmara woman from Framlingham in Victoria’s south-west who has long dedicated herself to the advancement of First Peoples through a series of roles across community, government, not-for-profit and the private sector.
Thelma’s work over 25 years is broad. She has experience as a cultural advisor, board member and manager in Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, government and the corporate sector. She has a strong commitment to cultural integrity and understanding of cultural nuance.
Thelma is also an experienced mediator, facilitator and trainer. She was Manager of the Victorian Aboriginal Dispute Resolution program at the Department of Justice.
Andrew Morgan Jackomos
Andrew is a proud Yorta Yorta man, with direct heritage to the Gunditjmara, Taungurung and Boandik nations. He is also proud of his heritage from the Greek Island of Kastellorizo.
Andrew has an extensive history of serving the community and championing fairness. Since the late 1970s, Andrew has worked across the Commonwealth and Victorian governments, leading social justice policies and programs and driving self-determination initiatives. This includes leading the development and implementation of the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement for 13 years and becoming the inaugural Victorian Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People in 2013 where he led a landmark review into the impact of the child protection system on Aboriginal children and young people.
In 2006 Andrew received the Public Service Medal in recognition of his work in the field of social justice and acknowledged as a National Fellow with the Institution of Public Administration Australia in 2011.
Duean White
Duean is a Biripi woman (NSW) and former consultant who has worked across the corporate, government, not-for-profit and community-controlled sectors. Her qualifications include law, business (Senior Executive MBA), leadership and coaching, training, career development and corporate governance (AICD graduate).
Duean has significant dispute resolution expertise as a nationally accredited mediator and is an experienced facilitator, coach and trainer. Before joining the Treaty Authority, she served as a panel mediator with the Victorian Small Business Commission, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Native Title list of the Federal Court and was a member of the Review Panel for the Victorian Stolen Generations Reparations Fund. She has been a non-executive director of various government and community boards.
Engagement team
Murrie Kemp
Manager, Community Engagement
Mafi Kailahi
Community Engagement Officer