Professor Simon Forrest was born and raised in Wadjuk country (Perth). He has connections to country at Goomalling (Balardong), Swan Valley (Wajuk), Mt Magnet (Badimaya) and Leonora (Wongutha). He trained as a primary school teacher and worked in schools in in Aboriginal communities and rural towns. He has also worked in the public sector in senior managerial positions in education and curriculum and Indigenous affairs policy and implementation.
Simon is WA’s longest serving Aboriginal academic having been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students since 1983 at Edith Cowan University, The University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Michigan State University. He was the Inaugural Head of KurongKurl Katijin School of Indigenous Australian Studies at ECU. His services are widely sought particularly as a presenter in the areas of Aboriginal Education, History and Politics, Cultural Awareness and Competency and Cultural Consultancy. In 2005 was awarded National Scholar of the Year at the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee Awards. In 2018 he was named NAIDOC Perth male Elder of the Year in recognition of his dedication and commitment to the education of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Western Australia.
Vivienne ‘Binyarn’ Hansen is a Balladong Wadjuk Yorga woman from the Bibbulmun Nation, or Noongar people, of the south-west of Western Australia. After a childhood of learning about traditional medicine, Vivienne undertook formal training at the Marr Mooditj Foundation and completed Certificate in Bush and Western Herbal Medicine. She was also the first Indigenous member of the National Herbalist Association of Australia. She is an Author of several books and a well renowned public speaker on Noongar bush medicine. She is a member of the Noongar Advisory Circle for the Perth Festival.
