Aunty Eleanor Bourke AM

Respected elder and warrior for Aboriginal education, Aunty Eleanor Bourke AM is committed to fully and authentically respecting different cultures.

For the past 40 years she has devoted herself to increasing awareness, appreciation and advancement of Aboriginal people and improving understanding between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. Eleanor was pioneering female Aboriginal activist in the 1960s.

Eleanor has always believed that education is the key to a better life for Aboriginal people. She is an inaugural member of the Victorian Aboriginal Education Group (now the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc), represented Victoria on the National Aboriginal Education Committee and has advised the Australian College of Education and the Family Law Council.

Eleanor was director of the Aboriginal Research Centre at the University of South Australia and both chair of Australian Indigenous Studies and director of Aboriginal Programs at Monash University. Other positions include member of the Winyula Joint Management Council (Horsham) and the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, and board member with Native Title Services Victoria since 2001.

After retiring from full-time employment in 2001, Eleanor was co-chair of Reconciliation Victoria for five years, and is presently chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council. The Council was established in 2006 and is unique in Australia as a statutory body comprised of Victoria's traditional owners managing traditional lands.

Eleanor's dream is for Aboriginal people to be proud of their heritage.

"I do not want my grandchildren to have to go through what I did.

"My goal is to see that recognition of traditional owner groups is carried through into all aspects of everyday life, beyond just cultural heritage matters, important though they are.

"We want our beliefs and different interpretations of the world expressed so that, through the traditional owner groups, they can be understood by Aboriginal communities and other Australians."