Bronwyn Chambers – Guest Lecturer

Bronwyn Chambers (nee Williams) is a proud Darkinung woman and descendant of the Awabakal people. She has lived on Darkinung country all of her life.

She attended Saint Cecilia’s Catholic school in primary school and then attended Wyong High school. She is married with three children, Sam, Madelene and Jed.  She also has four beautiful grandchildren.

Bronwyn is a State Registered Nurse and then moved into the field of education and has worked in education now for 35 years.  She started her career in education as a voluntary mum at Kanwal Public School and then applied for a position at Toukley Community Based Preschool and worked at Kooloora Aboriginal Preschool in the grounds of Toukley primary school as an Aboriginal Education Worker.

In those 35 years she has worked in early childhood, primary and  secondary as an Aboriginal Education Officer at Wyong High school for 13 years and for the past three and half years  in Tertiary Education with the Wollotuka Institute – University of Newcastle as an Elder in Residence.  She feels lucky in her working career as all her positions have given her the opportunity to work with and be a part of the Aboriginal community and its organisations.

She has been involved with the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) at a local and regional level for many years.  She has also been a member of Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council since 1999 and I was one of the inaugural Board members of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council and held the position of Deputy Chair, Chairperson and Board member for 5 years and a member of the Empowered Communities Initiative during this time.

She is very proud that she has had an association with NAISDA since its permanent home on Darkinjung land as a community member.  She is  also a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC) and member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders Alliance (NATSIEA) for three years and hold an executive position on the NATSIEA committee.