Our People
Our Inaugural Patron | Aunty Agnes Shea OAM
Aunty Agnes was a highly respected Elder of the Ngunnawal Aboriginal People of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and surrounding regions. For many decades, Aunty Agnes was a strong voice for Aboriginal People and her Community, which included a foundational member of Yerrabi Yurwang, the United Ngunnawal Elder’s Council and a member of the ACT Heritage Council. Aunty Agnes worked toward improving non-Aboriginal Australians’ understanding of Aboriginal culture and heritage. As a senior Ngunnawal Elder she was very active, and she advocated for Aboriginal People across a range of issues including employment, justice, and health. She worked closely with Ministers and senior Members of all Directorates.
Aunty Agnes was awarded an Order of Australia Medal and ACT Chief Minister’s Senior Citizen of the Year for her advocacy in bringing about positive change for our People.
Aunty Agnes carried out one of the most significant ‘Welcome to Countries’ on record, welcoming thousands of people visiting the ACT for the 2008 National Apology by the Honourable Kevin Rudd.
Vale Aunty Agnes, you will forever be in our hearts ♥️ and minds.
Our Chair | Selina Walker
Born in Canberra ACT, Selina is a proud Ngunnawal Woman and is the very proud Granddaughter of Aunty Agnes Shea OAM. Selina has a strong commitment to family and work within the region. She has been working in the ACT Aboriginal Community and surrounding regions for over twelve years in various roles across the ACT human services sectors, especially in the child and youth protection, homelessness, mental health, and women’s service system areas; Selina is also a Kinship Carer to her four Godsons. In recognition of her efforts as a Carer, Selina was named the 2017 ‘ACT Barnardos Mother of the Year’, and more recently as the 2024 ACT Local Hero, Australian of the Year Award.
Selina is also an accomplished Aboriginal artist and a very strong advocate for Aboriginal Youth and enjoys working with them to nurture them as future leaders. Her passion and drive for suicide prevention and awareness followed on from the sad loss of three family members due to suicide. Selina is a community representative on many different boards and committees in the ACT.
Our Deputy Chair | Uncle Fred Monaghan
Uncle Fred Monaghan was born at Frogs Hollow, Griffith NSW and is a very proud Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri Man.
Uncle Fred has lived through much adversity and vividly remembers those early days where his Dad built his family a home on Frog Hollow after numerous trips on his bicycle to gather sheets of metal from the local rubbish tip. Uncle Fred lived in this shack for the first nine years of his life. It had no running water, so they had to kart it from the channel. There was no electricity, open fire was their source for heating and cooking and candles were used for lighting. When it rained, they placed pots and pans out to catch the falling rain. Due to the Aboriginal Protection Act, they were not allowed to get on the local school bus, they had to walk to school each day in the rain, hail or sunshine.
Later in life Uncle Fred moved to the ACT where he found employment for 14 years, as a machine operator and truck driver, he later went on to the ACT government to work for Street Link as a Youth Worker due to issues with Aboriginal youth around the Narrabundah, Kingston and Manuka areas.
Uncle Fred stayed with Street Link for three years and then won a role as a Youth Worker with Gugan Gulwan Aboriginal Youth Organisation based at Boomanulla Oval in Narrabundah, to support Aboriginal youth impacted by drugs and alcohol. In 2013, Uncle Fred started to have major health issues, which led to a kidney transplant in 2015.
Uncle Fred’s advocacy efforts include the following representations:
• Ngunnawal Bush Hearing Farm, Advisory Board Member
• Aboriginal Justice Centre (AJC ), Inaugural Board Member
• ACT Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, Inaugural Board Member for 3 terms
• Elder’s Visitor Program, at Alexander McConachie Centre & Quamby Youth Detention.
Our Treasurer | Aunty Victoria Bradley
Born and raised in Canberra, Vicki is a proud Ngunnawal and Guringi woman with her family heritage coming from Queanbeyan, here on Ngunnawal country.
Vicki has over 40 years’ experience in both the non-government and Government human services sectors in the ACT, NSW and WA, commencing her career in the ACT at the QUAMBY Juvenile Detention Center, (now Bimberi). Vicki followed on by working in youth residential care, as well as in Child Services working with youth at risk in a street-work Program in WA and NSW. Whilst in WA she was employed by the Ministry of Justice Youth Taskforce and worked in both Youth and Adult Corrections. After returning home to her Ngunnawal homelands, Vicki worked for the ACT Government in both the adult and youth justice sectors, working with offenders of all ages. As a frontline worker in these Sectors, Vicki witnessed the harsh reality of these environments daily.
As a founding Board Member and Treasurer of the Aboriginal Justice Centre, Vicki was integral in ensuring the provision of culturally appropriate service delivery to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People going through the ACT Justice System. Vicki was also a member of the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee (AJAC), a ministerially appointed position and continued in pursuit of some other ACT initiatives such as the Aboriginal Justice Centre, inaugural Member of Circle Sentencing, AD&A Residential Centre and the Aboriginal Legal Centre for the ACT. Vicki also helped to set up many programs during her career including the Elders Visiting Scheme and the Induction Officer Role and Detainee Induction Package at the Belconnen Remand Centre, which continued into the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison.
Vicki is now a proud Board Member and Treasurer of Yerrabi Yurwang and uses any spare time she has to help Mob currently involved in the justice, family violence and child welfare systems, to acquire vital early intervention supports.
Vicki completed academic studies in the ACT and WA and is a registered Justice of the Peace, volunteering her services to our Community and the ACT Magistrates Court, which she continues today.
Director | Uncle Brian Wilson
Brian is a proud Aboriginal man who grew up in Tamworth on the Kamilaroi Nation, attending Kirinari Aboriginal Hostel during his younger high school years. Brian graduated from the University of New England in 1996 with a Bachelor of Art Economics and is an experienced Senior Director with substantial experience in both the ACT and NSW Public Services.
Brian’s career has had a strong emphasis in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and Social Housing and Homelessness management and strategic policy development, guiding the capability and capacity building of ACT and NSW Government agencies to deliver programs and services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a culturally safe manner. Brian was a team recipient of the 2019 ACT Public Service Award for Collaboration in the delivery of the 2019-2028 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement.
Director | Aunty Annette Shea
Annette is the proud daughter of Aunty Agnes Shea OAM and has been an instrumental voice in the ACT community for the Ngunnawal people for over 25years.
Walking alongside her mother, Annette has become the knowledge holder for Aunty Agnes Shea.
Annette has been involved in many board and councils and is a current Advisory Board Member for the Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm, an Elder representative on the United Ngunnawal Elders Council and a champion for her mother’s legacy in the ACT.
Annette is current student at CIT Yuarauna Centre studying Aboriginal Arts as she continues her artistic endeavours as an artist.
Our Senior Cultural Practitioner | Aunty Elaine Lomas
Elaine is a proud Wiradjuri Aboriginal Woman, born in Griffith NSW, and currently lives in the ACT. Elaine has an extensive career in all things Aboriginal, from NSW Aboriginal Health, Aboriginal Affairs, Aboriginal Housing Office, FACS, teaching Wiradjuri language and many positions in Aboriginal Health working at organisations such as NACCHO, AMS Western Sydney, Coordinare the South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network based at Queanbeyan and Charles Sturt University where she is involved in teaching Wiradjuri language to adults and children.
Elaine is an avid writer, poet, song writer and an experienced public speaker. She has extensive experience in community consultations and engagement with Aboriginal communities and building strategic alliances with Government and Non-Government Agencies at all levels.
Elaine has a Post Graduate Certificate in Public Health from the University of NSW and also a Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language Culture, Heritage and Nation Building from Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Campus.
Elaine is also an active Board Member of the Wiradjuri Christian Development Ministries, the Evonne Goolagong Foundation, Yerrabi Yurwang and the Diz Footprints Aboriginal Learning Centre for Aboriginal Youth in Western and South Western Sydney.
Our Chief Executive Officer | Associate Professor Dea Delaney-Thiele
Dea is a very proud Dunghutti, Kamilaroi & Yuin Aboriginal Woman, birthed on Country at Burnt Bridge Mission, Kempsey NSW and is our inaugural CEO. Dea is a passionate advocate for Aboriginal Peoples’ inherent right of self-determination and has worked in leadership roles in Aboriginal Community Controlled Services for over 35 years – at the local, state, National & international levels – which included inaugural founding Board Member for NACCHO as its Treasurer, founding Board Member for NATSIWA, Board Member for Daruk AMS & founding Board Member DIZ Footprints Aboriginal Learning Centre. Dea also served three terms on the Western Sydney Local Health District Board and one term on the Westmead Children Hospital Board.
Dea worked at NACCHO for 11yrs, 8yrs as its CEO, where she lobbied and advocated for over 140 Aboriginal Communities Australia wide, including at the United Nations. She was very privileged to be the Co-Chair of the Australian Indigenous Peoples Organisations for 2 years and the Global Indigenous Womens’ Caucus at Alta Norway, where the Alta Outcomes Statement was framed, to guide the UN Community to effectively implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Dea had the absolute honour of being one of the initiators of the original Australian Close the Gap campaign led by NACCHO and OXFAM & leading Yerrabi Yurwang's application for Care and Protection Organisation registration in the ACT.
Our Deputy Chief Executive Officer | Lee-Anne Daley
Lee-Anne is a proud Wiradjuri Woman from Wellington NSW and has more than 15 years’ experience working in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Sector. She is a passionate advocate for ensuring Aboriginal self-determination, views and values underpins service delivery to the local Aboriginal community.
Lee-Anne moved to Canberra over 20 years ago and has worked in various strategic policy service delivery positions that included Winnunga Nimmityjah as a Bringing Them Home Counsellor, before moving to the ACT government in several roles and is now a Senior Child and Family Worker supporting vulnerable children and their families and coordinate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs.
Lee-Anne has completed several VET Sector and tertiary qualifications, including an Advanced Diploma Health Science (Aboriginal Mental Health), a Graduate Diploma of Health Management and a Diploma of Health Science (Aboriginal Health).
