Something to Believe In: Spirituality and Faith

Joan Hendriks is an Aboriginal elder of the Ngugi people from Moreton Island off Brisbane and a Catholic theologian.

Joan has four children and ten grandchildren and her family is the most important part of her life. As an Elder, community person and Educator Aunty Joan has worked since the 1980’s in the field of Aboriginal Education and Reconciliation and Justice for the Indigenous peoples of Australia. She has presented workshops in primary and secondary Schools, local Church and Community organisations, Government departments and internationally at the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Forum in 2004. Her contributions have made a significant impression on a large number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, staff and community. In 2007 Aunty Joan received one of five National Elder of the Year awards presented the Indigenous Higher Education Consultative Council for her Lifelong contribution to Indigenous Higher Education.

Currently, Aunty Joan is a sessional lecturer in the Diploma in Indigenous Education, and Bachelor of Education Primary (Indigenous Studies) at ACU where she teaches on Indigenous Spirituality and Cultural Studies. She has also been involved as lecturer-in-charge of the compulsory subject on Indigenous cultures for mainstream students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary).

Aunty Joan has completed a Master of Theology and is currently enrolled in a MPhil program. In this capacity she is a role model for Indigenous people demonstrating that age is no barrier to learning and that learning is a life-long process, a concept which is embedded in traditional Aboriginal life. Aunty Joan is one of nine participants invited to participate in the Inter-Religious Research project “Forgiveness as a means of Peace” funded by the Arbor foundation from Switzerland.

As well as a being an outstanding mentor to Indigenous students and staff at ACU, Aunty Joan provides leadership within the university through her contributions to promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous community. She is regularly asked to provide the Traditional Acknowledgement at all major university functions. She is also a member of the ACU Weemala Advisory Committee and the National Indigenous Advisory Committee . In 2008 the Australian Catholic University (ACU) National granted an honorary Fellowship to Aunty Joan.

Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...

Dr Tanveer Ahmed is a psychiatrist and opinion columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald

He writes widely, sits on various Boards and has appeared in various media in both an entertainment and serious commentator capacity. He identifies as an agnostic, cultural Muslim and believes how to die will be as important a question as how to live in the upcoming century.

Science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams presents Radio National’s The Science Show and Ockham’s Razor.

Although he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in England, Robyn admits to spending as much time acting as studying. Early in his career he made guest appearances in The Goodies, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Doctor Who, and stood in for Tom Jones for four months in his TV series.

In 1993, Robyn was the first journalist elected as a Fellow Member of the Australian Academy of Science. He was appointed AM in the 1988 Australian Bicentenary honours list and in the same year received honorary doctorates in science from the University of Sydney and Macquarie and Deakin Universities. The ANU awarded him a doctorate of law, and he is a visiting professor at the University of NSW and an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland.

A Reuters fellowship at Oxford University allowed him time to write his autobiography, And Now for Something Completely Different.

Robyn has written more than 10 books, the latest being a novel, 2007: a true story waiting to happen.

Mark Baker is director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation and an associate professor at Monash University.

For more than a decade he has taught at the University of Melbourne and lectures widely in the fields of the Holocaust and genocide, the Arab-Israel Conflict, and terrorism in modern conflict.

He is the author of the prize-winning book, The Fiftieth Gate.