Reconciliation at Fringe

Haydyn is a descendant of the Adnyamathanha, Yarluyandi and Narungga peoples. He has direct family ties with the Flinders Ranges, Yorke Peninsula, Simpson Desert & South-West Queensland. Haydyn is a qualified teacher with over 30 years’ experience in education and training. Haydyn established his own company Bookabee Australia in 2005 with a vision to become a leader in authentic Aboriginal Cultural Tourism and Aboriginal Cultural Consultancy Services. Through Bookabee, Haydyn has delivered Cultural Awareness/Sensitivity & Respect Training to thousands of participants across schools, universities and Government, NGO, corporate and private organisations. 

Haydyn is currently a member the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Parks Co-Management Board and the Interagency Steering Committee for Flinders Ranges World Heritage. In 2023 Haydn was elected as Chairperson of the South Australian Aboriginal Tour Operators Committee (SAATOC) and board member to the Tourism Industry Council of South Australia (TICSA).

Elizabeth Close is an Anangu woman from the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Language Groups, whose family links are to the communities of Pukutja and Amata in the APY Lands. Elizabeth was born in Adelaide but grew up in outback SA, returning to Adelaide to complete her secondary schooling and attend university to complete a Bachelor of Nursing. In 2007, Elizabeth began to paint professionally and exhibit her work throughout Adelaide and her practice organically grew as she balanced nursing, art and motherhood. By 2014 she had built up a full-time arts practice, and after the birth of their second child, Elizabeth and her family relocated to the APY to reconnect with family, language and culture; something that is profoundly reflected in the evolution of her work. 

Currently, Elizabeth is a mid-career, Aboriginal Visual Artist living and working on Unceded Kaurna Country. She has spent the past 16 years crafting a dynamic and bold multi-disciplinary arts practice that speaks to the politics of Aboriginality, her own personal Connection to Country and the concept of connection to place and space more broadly; more specifically, how it relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relationships with the landscape and ways of being and knowing. She works primarily in the mediums of 2D arts, large scale public art and digital media, and thrives in experimentation and challenge.

Jannali Jones (Gunai) is the Senior Cultural Advisor for Content at the ABC. She holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Arts in Creative Writing. Jannali worked as a lawyer in Film and Television for over 15 years, working for NITV, SBS and the ABC. She was also the Program Manager and Lecturer for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Advocacy Diploma at Tranby Aboriginal College. As a writer, Jannali’s work has been published in Australia and overseas. Her debut novel My Father’s Shadow, a YA thriller was published through Magabala Books. Recently she received the Arts South Australia + Brink First Nations Playwright Fellowship 23-24, the SA Writers Varuna Fellowship 2024 and the University of Adelaide JM Coetzee First Nations Fellowship 2023. She wrote and produced the play, Trial’s End, for the 2024 Adelaide Fringe, which won two Fringe awards including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award.

Nicole Gollan is a Ngarrindjeri woman born in Murray Bridge. After completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Education, she taught for five years as a primary school teacher – all in the midst of becoming a Mother to a gorgeous little boy in 2009.

Nicole is purpose driven, aiming to enable meaningful change in Aboriginal communities by recognising futures through Aboriginal knowledge. Acting as your cultural conduit, she proudly helps achieve lasting impact and sustainable change.

Odette Pearson is a Kuku Yalanji and Torres Strait Islander women from Far North Queensland who has lived on Kaurna Country for the last 13 years. Odette has worked as a health researcher at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute since 2013. Through research Odette informs health system and service improvements and supports self-determination of Aboriginal communities. Odette has been on the Fringe Board since 2018 and contributes her research skills and lived experience as an Aboriginal person to supporting and developing the fringe to be a diverse and thriving festival in South Australia, Australia and across the globe. Odette, her husband Steve and Golden Retriever Pipi, live in Adelaide. Their families live interstate (QLD & WA) and abroad (England) which sometimes has it benefits but overall, it means (or meant) a lot of travel and cherishing those moments. 

Tanya Hosch is the Executive General Manager of Inclusion and Social Policy at the Australian Football League and 2021 South Australian – Australian of the year. Tanya has a long and distinguished history in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, advocacy, governance and is an accomplished public speaker. Before joining the AFL as the first ever Indigenous person and 2nd woman in their Executive ranks in August 2016, Tanya was the Joint Campaign director of the Recognise movement for constitutional recognition.

 

Tanya is a Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group of the National Australia Bank, an ANU Council member, Director of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), a Board Director of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and was a member of the Referendum Council that led the process and final recommendation that resulted in The Statement from the Heart in May 2017.  A career highlight was contributing as a Consultant on the ABC drama, Total Control.