| Virginie Branchut |
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
|
| Dr Tim Pilbrow |
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.
|
| Dr. Paul A. Dottin |
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)
|
| Dortch and Cuthbert Pty Ltd trading as Dortch Cuthbert |
Address: PO Box 30, Fremantle, 6959
ABN: 25 128 976 205
Summary of Experience:
Dirima Cuthbert (MEnvDes; BEnvDes; BSc (Hons. Anthropology)) is an experienced anthropologist and environmental designer, having worked with First Peoples since 1996. Her cross-disciplinary approach is useful in revealing and regenerating connections between people and places. Dirima is Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, a Professional and committee member of the Anthropological Society of Western Australia and a member of the Australian Anthropological Society.
Joe Dortch (PhD, Archaeology, BA (Hons. Archaeology)) has worked with Traditional Owners across Western Australia since 1992. Joe is a leading archaeological researcher, having produced over 60 peer-reviewed publications with Indigenous and academic collaborators. Specialty areas include environmental archaeology and heritage management plans. He is Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, a Research Associate at the Western Australian Museum, a Full Member of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. and committee member of the Australian Archaeological Association.
Together, Joe and Dirima have completed hundreds of projects across Western Australia, with demonstrated capability in engaging and maintaining relationships with Traditional Owners, Native Title parties, proponents and others.
Skills:
- Social Surroundings Assessments under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA);
- Heritage Surveys under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA);
- Cultural Heritage Management Plans;
- Cultural Landscape Mapping;
- Interpretation, signage and displays to communicate and celebrate cultural heritage;
- Planning to anticipate impacts to or opportunities for cultural heritage in the future, taking into account climate change for example;
- Workshop facilitation to bring Traditional Owners, proponents and others together in the design and implementation of a project;
- Environmental design for landscaping and architectural responses attuned to people and places.
|
| Gareth Lewis |
Summary of Experience and Skills:
Experience:
- 27 years of applied anthropological experience working predominately across the Northern Territory.
- 10 years as a senior consultant and expert preceded by senior anthropologist roles at the Northern Land Council and Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority.
Skills:
- Northern Territory Land Rights Act Land Claims: field research and documentation of rights and interest in land along with expert witness testimony in successful claims including Kakadu, Peron Islands and Cobourg.
- Native title: field research and documentation of native title rights and interest in land, expert connection reports and resource ‘rights to use’ reporting in successful and ongoing claims around the Pine Creek region and with the Central Land Council for Eastern Arrernte people.
- Sacred site and cultural heritage management: sacred site mapping, documentation surveys, management planning, including investigative research for prosecutions.
- Community engagement, agreement making and site surveys for major mineral and petroleum exploration, production and rehabilitation projects under provisions of both the NT Land Rights and Native Title legislation – experience on major projects ranging across Ranger, Jabiluka, Koongarra, Rum Jungle, McArthur River, Coronation Hill, Redbank and the Beetaloo Sub-Basin.
- Social, Cultural and Economic baseline impact assessment work in and around the Beetaloo Sub-Basin with the University of Queensland as part of the Strategic Regional Environmental Baseline Assessment recommended by the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory.
- Community engagement for Parks joint management and co-management arrangements in Commonwealth and Northern Territory Parks and reserves, inclusive of Kakadu.
- Community based research projects for indigenous corporations inclusive of dispute management, arbitration and agreement making.
|
| Suzanne Ingram |
Suzanne Ingram is an interdisciplinary researcher in health communication and anthropology, focusing on the reshaping of Aboriginal personhood and social organisation in Australia. She is a consultant on Wiradjuri contemporary issues and heritage. Her scholarly work has been featured on national broadcast networks, and she is a published author in mainstream Australian media. Since 2022, Suzanne has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council, a legislated entity under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1983). She is currently completing her PhD in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.
|
| Dr Mahnaz Alimardanian |
Experience:
I am a social scientist with professional research experience in socio-cultural anthropology, and in conducting applied research.
PiiR stands for Professional Independent Indigenous Research.
PiiR Consulting provides social and cultural research and community engagement services for:
- Native title, Indigenous land and cultural rights, compensation, and social justice claims
– Preparation of expert evidence reports (fieldwork and desktop research)
– Assessment and peer review of documents and submissions.
- Cultural value and social impact assessments
– Community engagement, consultation, and evaluation
– Research and strategy development for project outcomes
– Systematic review of research-evidence and literature
– Preparation of qualitative research reports, guidelines & publications.
- Trauma informed and healing centered social projects (Community development or creative arts projects)
– Community engagement and consultation
– Project management
– Background research
– Mentorship.
In PiiR Consulting, the following key principles guide community engagement and research:
Free Prior Informed Consent, Privacy of personal information, Respect of the ownership of information, and Commitment to the best practice guidelines and standards including United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Code of Ethics (Australian Anthropological Society), Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies), and Expert Evidence Practice Note (Federal Court of Australia).
|
| Archae-aus – Archaeology & Cultural Heritage Management Consultants | Archae-aus Perth WA |
Staff anthropologists (alphabetical order of surname):
Koa Jaensch, Dr Adele Millard, Phoebe Oliver, Dr Jaimal Sandhu, Dr Janelle White.
Collective areas of anthropological expertise: native title research in land, sea, regional, and urban settings; cultural heritage research and management; customary marine tenure; public health; Indigenous genealogy; cultural mapping; GIS mapping; ethnographic compliance; due diligence assessments; project coordination; facilitating cultural camps for intergenerational knowledge sharing; oral history recording; environmental monitoring; Indigenous economic development; cultural capacity building; social inclusion; ethnographic and documentary filmmaking; academic research; education and training; working with Indigenous communities, governments, academic institutions, and NGOs.
Experience:
- research and writing native title claim reports;
- preparing native title genealogies;
- native title filmmaking for early evidence;
- preparing expert witness reports;
- giving court evidence and undergoing cross-examination;
- PBC development and management.
|
| Dr Catherine Wohlan |
Worked in native title and related areas since 1996, including experience working in the private sector for indigenous land councils and as a consultant.
Expertise includes cultural mapping, heritage impact assessment, native title including compensation, and inquiries undertaken under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, Northern Territory.
Author of multiple reports providing internal expert advice and for filing in the Federal Court.
|
| Allison Thatcher |
Summary of Experience and Skills:
Education:
* Master of Anthropology (Advanced), Australian National University (2017);
* Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (Research), Monash University (2009);
* Bachelor Arts, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1999).
Experience:
- 20 years’ experience working with Australian First Nations communities and their organisations as well as the government and private sector throughout the Northern Territory, North Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia.
Skills:
- Native title: anthropology research, report writing, compiling genealogies, community engagement and project management.
- Cultural heritage management: site surveys, cultural values assessments, and report writing.
- Post determination: Prescribed Body Corporate support including policy writing, strategic planning, community consultation, and implementing systems to evaluate and respond to future act notifications.
|
| Emily Sexton |
Areas of Expertise
Working with boards and operations teams across all aspects of PBC operations, governance, business and strategy.
Experience
- Agreement review and advisory
- Stakeholder management
- Joint venture negotiation
- Governance training
- Strategic planning
- Business development
- Policy development (preferential procurement / preferential employment)
- Cultural governance frameworks
- Cultural heritage management systems
- Funding facilitation including grant opportunities
- Project planning and management
|
| Dr James Rose |
ABN: 61 748 524 226
PhD, BA(Hons) Social Anthropology; Director and Senior Consultant Social Anthropologist, RMA (Relational Modelling & Analysis)
Areas of Expertise
- Forensic and Expert Social Anthropology (FESA), suitable to a range of statutory and common law legal-administrative applications
- Culturally based Indigenous and customary property rights, including land, sea, and natural resources, data and intellectual property, and child custody
- Cultural heritage preservation, including evidence preservation, moveable and immovable tangible and intangible cultural heritage
- Advanced social mapping and genealogical modelling, including claim group development, ancestor identification, and scaffolding for community conflict resolution
- Advanced geospatial mapping (GIS), including small-to-large scale population modelling & analysis
- Social and kinship network analysis, (SNA, KNA) spatiotemporal kinship network analysis (stKNA)
- Training and mentoring
- Research database design and development, including data governance
Experience
- 22-years’ experience providing forensic and expert social anthropological services to native title claims and negotiations, and cultural preservation processes across Australia, including more than 2,000 remote, regional, and urban area community consultations and lead authorship of more than 150 reports.
- Provision of fact and expert opinion evidence to over 15 native title claims and negotiations under the Commonwealth Native Title Act (1993), in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. The largest claims on which I have been engaged as the lead expert include:
- Gomeroi People (NSD37/2019) (111,317 sq km)
- Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan People (NSD38/2019) (95,044 sq km)
- South Coast People (NSD1331/2017) (16,809 sq km)
- Provision of fact and expert opinion evidence to tangible and intangible cultural heritage processes under various statutory and common law regimes in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and New South Wales, including particularly the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act (1989)
- Lead development and curation of the largest fully cross-referenced digital genealogy in Australia (the ‘UNIIFIED Genealogy’ documenting more than 85,000 individuals), hosted by New South Wales NTSP NTSCORP
- Design and development of advanced, secure, multi-user research databases for multirole NTSPs, Land Councils, and government agencies, including most notably the New South Wales Office of Aboriginal Affairs.
|
| Dr Pamela McGrath |
Canberra based
Areas of Expertise:
- Native title anthropology
- Indigenous cultural heritage management
- WA, Victoria and Qld
- Facilitation and mediation
- Project and program management
Experience:
- 7 years as a consultant anthropologist, providing independent expert advice for both consent and litigated matters.
- 12 years in research management for RNTBCs, government and academia (including AIATSIS, NNTT and ANU).
- 4 years as a RNTBC in-house anthropologist.
|
| Kim McCaul |
Experience:
- compensation matters
- connection reports and reviews of connection reports (in NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA) both for contested hearings and consent determination processes
- intangible heritage documentation
- PBC membership reviews; professional development training for rep body staff (mediation, cross cultural communication, ethnographic analysis)
|
| Dr Michael Lucas |
Areas of interest:
- Cultural heritage
- Native title claims
- Dispute resolution
- Data management and analytics
- Agreement-making
- GIS and spatial mapping
- Indigenous business and governance advising
Experience:
- PBC management and governance reform; cultural heritage and agreement-making (QLD & NT), traditional knowledge commercialisation projects, and data analysis.
|
| Daisy Goodwin |
Focus areas:
Governance, strategy, economic development, conservation
Daisy Goodwin is a cultural and environmental anthropologist who has spent the last eight years working across regional Western Australia supporting Aboriginal-led land and sea initiatives and advocating for First Nations interests across government and industry.
Her work has largely focused on supporting Aboriginal leadership in carbon farming, bushfoods and clean energy and promoting First Nations data sovereignty.
|
| Craig Elliott |
Specific areas of expertise and interest:
* Native Title and NT Land Rights claim research and reporting;
* Native Title Compensation claim research;
* Native Title report Peer Review;
* Indigenous applied public health research;
* Indigenous Intestate claims research and advice;
* Social Impact Assessment.
Experience:
- 1992-2006, 2017-2025: Consultant Anthropologist (in Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia)
- 2006–2017: Senior Anthropologist, Native Title Research Coordinator, Central Land Council, Alice Springs, NT.
- Expert Witness in Native Title: De Rose (De Rose Hill); Alyawarr (Alyawarr, Kaytetye, Warumungu and Wakay Native Title Claim
- Expert Witness in Land Rights cases: Alcoota Land Claim; Wakay Alyawarr (Repeat) Land Claim; Cobourg Peninsula Land Claim
- 2014-2019: Guest Lecturer, New York University, Sydney campus (2014-19).
- Consultancy work for: Central Land Council (CLC), Northern Land Council (CLC), Kimberley Land Council (KLC), Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC), Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal Corporation (AMYAC), Solicitor for the Northern Territory (SFNT), Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Corporation (NT).
|
| Dr Kim de Rijke |
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Queensland.
Specific areas of expertise and interest:
Native title claim research and reporting, including expert evidence for the Federal Court, peer reviews, Indigenous Land Use Agreements, cultural heritage/cultural values research, social impact assessment.
Experience
Native title claim research, expert evidence in the Federal Court, joint expert conferences, peer review, research addressing membership disputes and overlapping claims, cultural values studies, research in post-determination settings addressing conflicts about rights in land in the context of mining.
|
| Dr Shaun Canning |
Australian Cultural Heritage Management.
Shaun Canning is the primary contact.
- Remote / Regional Work
- Cultural Heritage Management
- Ethnographic Assessments
- Archaeological Assessments
- Impact Assessment
- Cultural Values Assessments
- GIS / Heritage Site Databases
- PBC Advice and Assistance
- Mine Closure
- ILUA Negotiations and Agreement Modernisation
Dr Shaun Canning
Managing Director and Principal Heritage Advisor
Australian Cultural Heritage Management
ADELAIDE | BRISBANE |MELBOURNE | PERTH | SYDNEY
T: 1300 724 913
M: 0400 204 536
E: Shaun.Canning@achm.com.au
W: www.achm.com.au
|
| Sean Calderwood (Calderwood the Consultant) |
Experience:
Sean is available for work in the following fields:
- heritage surveys;
- collection of genealogical information;
- collection of family histories;
- site recording;
- cultural mapping;
- archival research;
- assisting on research trips;
- assisting senior anthropologists in research (I have done this with Lee Sackett, Scott Cane and others); and,
Sean has been the male anthropologist on four successful native title determinations (all in WA), two as the sole anthropologist, and a further two with a female anthropologist.
|
| Dr Stephen Bennetts |
QUALS
PhD (Anthropology) 2013, University of Western Australia
MA, Applied Linguistics (Regional Languages of Australia and the Pacific), Sydney University, 1993
Fellow Australian Anthropological Society;
Member Anthropological Society of Western Australia
(Detailed professional CV available on request)
I have worked since 1994 in the NT and WA on heritage, ALRA land claim and native title issues for a wide range of organisations including the Central Land Council, Northern Land Council, Ngaanyatjarra Council, Wangka Maya Aboriginal Language Centre, Port Hedland, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (Alice Springs and Darwin), YMAC, Pilbara Ports Authority
Former co-editor, Indigenous Law Bulletin, UNSW Indigenous Law Centre (1998-2000)
Co-founder, Remembering the 1946 Pilbara Strike
Extensive experience of research and drafting of expert native title claim connection reports in WA and NT under FCA guidelines
Currently teaching applied anthropology course, University of Queensland
Aboriginal languages: conversational knowledge of Pitjantjatjara
|
