Category Archives: Consultants

Email: mpbok9@gmail.com

Phone: 0437 080 227

ABN: 78904327980

Qualifications:

PhD (Anthropology), BA (Hons 1st Class Anthropology), Grad Dip (Ed). 

Areas of expertise

• Native title claim research and reporting, including the provision of expert. evidence for the Federal Court and Federal Court mediation, cultural heritage/cultural values research. 
• Direction of large, short and long term anthropological research projects within both the field of native title and the academy. 
• Funding applications and research project design 
• Cultural heritage management: site surveys, cultural values assessments, and report writing (including with reference to the NT Land Rights Act). 
• Genealogical and ethno-historical research. 
• Practice change, communities of practice and cross-disciplinary communication within and between multi-organisational research collaborations
• Academic anthropological writing, including authorship of peer reviewed articles and book chapters.

Experience:

I have written extensively within the arena of native title anthropology, having spent 15 years as a Snr claims anthropologist with NTSV/FNLRS in Victoria (7 of these, first as Research Manager and then as Research Director). I have also consulted as the sole expert on the Yaburarra/Mardudhunera native title claim in Western Australia (WAD 127 of 1997) and was the sole expert on the First Peoples of the Millewa Mallee claim in Victoria (VCD2025/001). 

In 2018, I was employed as the Director of Research and Business Development/Snr Anthropologist at the NNTT before re-joining FNLRS in 2019. I am an experienced field anthropologist who has worked and consulted extensively throughout Victoria and southern New South Wales, Central Australia, Northern Australia, the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. As a Research Officer for the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA), I worked extensively throughout central Australia and in the Victoria River District (VRD) of the Northern Territory.

I have also conducted field research with environmentalists in the Republic of Ireland and with Dairy Farmers throughout Victoria as the Gardiner Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne from 2006-2010). I am a published author and have held lecturing, tutoring and research positions variously at Monash University, Latrobe University, the University of Melbourne and Victoria University. I am also currently hold the position of Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Latrobe University.

Website: anthropologyservices.com.au

Business name: Environmental & Cultural Services PTY LTD

ABN: 83 693 537 183

Email: susandaledonaldson@bigpond.com

Phone: 0405 183 751

Membership:

Australian Anthropological Society and the Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) National Scientific Committee – Intangible Cultural Heritage (NSC-ICH).

Areas of expertise

• Native title & ALRA research
• Cultural heritage surveys & intangible values assessments
• Anthropological advice & expert witness services
• Cultural values mapping
• Renaming projects
• Community engagement, facilitation & dispute resolution
• Development of cultural interpretive material
• Oral history recording & publishing
• Community funding application support

Experience:

Over 25 years’ experience working with Aboriginal people and agencies in NSW, VIC, WA, QLD and the NT. Employed by the Central Land Council as a regional anthropologist (1998 – 2001) prior to establishing a private consultancy (2001 – present). Held a tutoring position at the University of Wollongong (2007 – 2016).

Undertaken applied anthropological research under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NSW) Act 1983, the National Parks and Wildlife (NSW) Act 1974, the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976, the Marine Parks (NSW) Act 2007, the Fisheries Management (NSW) Act 1994, the Aboriginal Heritage Act (VIC), 2006, the Environmental, Planning and Assessment Act 1979, the Marine Estate Management Act (NSW) 2014, the Northern Territory Sacred Sites Act 1989, the West Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972, the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1996.

Awarded consultancy contracts with a wide range of organisations including National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC), Central Land Council (CLC), Northern Land Council (CLC), Tiwi Land Council (TLC), Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC), WA Department of Conservation and Land Management, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA), Eurobodalla Shire Council (ESC), Heritage for NSW, Transport for NSW, NSW Health, Gulaga and Biamanga National Parks Boards of Management, Manly City Council, Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council, Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council, Batemans Marine Park, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), NSWDepartment of Primary Industries and NTSCorp.

Currently roles include anthropological advisor to the Aboriginal Land Commissioner, the Hon Justice Jenny Blokland, in the Finniss River Regional Land Claim (no. 237), NT.

Qualifications

* Bachelor of Arts Macquarie University 1997 (Anthropology and Resource Management);
* Master of Arts Australian National University 2010 (Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development);
* Short course University of Queensland 2021 (Indigenous Cultural Heritage Management: The Australian Resources Sector);

Email: virginie.branchut@gmail.com

M: 0405 309 274.

Skills:

• Native title research
• Community mediation
• Workplace mediation
• Collaborative design
• Organisational change and development facilitation

My research skill include:

• Fieldwork & documentary/archival research
• Consultation with Aboriginal groups on various matters
• Native title research
• Sacred Site research
• Sacred site recording and documentation in the field and in databases
• Anthropological report writing and reviewing
• Governance research
• Field/community-based project management and coordination
• Compiling genealogies and other relevant cultural information relating to connection of people to country
• Experience living in remote communities of Arnhem Land

Email: tim.pilbrow@socialcontext.com.au

M: 0432 972 188

Tim is an accredited mediator and internationally-experienced anthropologist, with a research background in the ethnography of collective identities and the socially integrative dimensions of conflict and dispute. He has been actively engaged in native title research in Victoria since 2006, as an employee of First Nations Legal & Research Services (2006-2018) and through his consultancy, Social Context (since 2019).

Tim has experience bringing anthropological insights to the development of decision-making structures and processes for Traditional Owner corporations that reflect Traditional Owners’ existing practices. Through this work Tim has gained experience in mediating the interests, views and practices of differently situated parties.

Tim has a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology (New York University), and BA Honours in languages and linguistics (Monash University). Tim has published book chapters and journal articles on native title anthropology, social change, and the anthropology of conflict. Tim is a fellow of the Australian Anthropological Society since 2006, including a stint as President (2024-2025).

Tim’s mediation and facilitation skills draw on his training in Transformative Mediation, Deep Democracy facilitation, User Experience Design, and the collaborative action methods of Strategic Doing. He has been accredited as a mediator under the Australian national mediation standards (AMDRAS) since 2014.

Email: padottin@icloud.com

M: 0402 446 330

Profession:

I am a consultant anthropologist who conducts ethnographic and social surroundings surveys in South Australia and Western Australia. I am interested also in Native Title claims and determination, Aboriginal / Proponent agreements, and Culture-loss compensation.

Professional Strength:

Advanced Interdisciplinary Reasoning
Expertise in anthropology, ethnic studies, and sociology. Competence in philosophy and psychology. Ongoing graduate diploma training in archaeology and heritage management.

Excellent Social Intelligence
Advanced emotional awareness, regulation and interpersonal engagement skills. Extensive formal training in meditation, yoga and breathing techniques honed through work with incarcerated youth and adults.

Professional Experience:

• Conducted Ethnographic surveys and Social Surroundings surveys for Australian Native Title organizations and Cultural Heritage Management companies.
• Extended ethnographic studies of racial/ethnic minority groups in China and the United States.
• Month-long professional development internship at a Native Title Representative Body (NTRB) in that sector’s approaches to genealogical research, fieldnote recording, social surroundings assessment, modern geo-referencing of maps drawn by early anthropologists, analysis of connection / ethnographic / and archaeological heritage reports, culture-loss impacts and compensation schemes, land and sea management practices aligned to Caring for Country principles.

Qualifications:

PhD in Comparative Studies (Florida Atlantic University, USA)
MA in Anthropology (UC Berkeley, USA)
MA in Ethnic Studies (UC Berkeley, USA)
BA in Sociology (Binghamton University, USA)
Graduate Diploma in Archaeology and Heritage Management (Flinders University. In Progress)