Powerful and personal: UQ celebrates NAIDOC Week 2026

Dr (Aunty) Pat Anderson AO has reflected on the histories, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a powerful and personal address to mark the 50-year anniversary of NAIDOC.

The internationally renowned social justice advocate delivered The University of Queensland’s 2026 NAIDOC Week keynote lecture.

Dr Anderson has spent 6 decades working in education, health, community development, policy and research ethics.

An Alyawarre woman from the Northern Territory, Dr Anderson said her advocacy sprang from growing up in the post-War years in Parap Camp outside Darwin.

“There were few places where we were allowed to live, these were days of segregated living,” Dr Anderson said. 

“This history has deeply influenced my life and was really the reason I have focused on human rights and justice all my life.

“It was clear to me that I wanted to be part of the struggle that was happening at the time, a lot of political movement and agitation.” 

Dr Anderson pursued a career in education and later in health, and was instrumental in the further development of Aboriginal community-controlled health services across Australia.  

“The hospitals at the time often wouldn’t see us or deliver proper services, so we took matters into our own hands,” she said. 

“Today, there are more than 150 separate services delivering primary health care. 

“This is an example of being ‘deadly’ – work done by us, managed and organised by us, not the government.”

Dr Anderson, as part of a wider team, presided over the historic nationwide consultations for the Uluru Statement From the Heart. 

Almost a decade later, she believes the Uluru Statement still holds within it the way forward.   

“We have the opportunity to create an Australia that is richer in not just GDP, but identity, culture, opportunity, inclusion and respect,” Dr Anderson said.

“A nation that fully understands its past, tackles the realities of today and delivers on its bright promise for the future by embracing each of us fully.”

Dr Anderson said the Voice to Parliament referendum was a national heartbreak and almost 3 years on, First Nations advocacy is fractured.   

“There’s a lot of colour and a lot of noise, but not a lot of listening or coming together,” she said. 

“It seems to me that some of our organisations, for various reasons, have decided to become corporatised rather than work directly with their community and families.

“I don’t think we are as community-driven as we have been in the past and this is a big loss.” 

Dr Anderson said the push for constitutional recognition and self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is far from over, and could only be achieved by working together.

“The past 50 years are deadly not because of one person or one action or one change of law or policy,” she said.

“They’re deadly because we spent 50 years working together to create our future.

“And we’re still fighting and shaping a future.”