Patrons

Aunty Dr Doseena Fergie OAM

Aunty Dr Doseena Fergie OAM is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elder descended through Wuthathi, Mabiauag Island and Ambonese ancestry. She lives on Boonwurrung Country in Victoria. A proud mother of three adult children and grandmother to four, she has a PhD in nursing research.  As a registered nurse and midwife she has worked as an Aboriginal health team’s clinical coordinator in the Yarra Valley and lectured in Aboriginal health and culture at the Australian Catholic University (ACU).  She was the Project Lead embedding Indigenous Knowing into ACU curricula. In 2020 Doseena became the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to be elected on the University Senate as an ACU Academic Senator. Prior to her retirement in 2021 she was her local government and health service’s Strategic Advisor for Aboriginal services.

She is the founding member of several Aboriginal community services in Melbourne.  In 2016 she became a Churchill Fellow and the inaugural Fellow of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM).  Later in 2019 she was inducted into the CATSINaM Hall of Fame. She was recognised as Yarra Ranges Council’s “2017 Citizen of the Year”; inducted into the Victorian Roll of Honour for Women and in 2019 awarded an Order of Australia Medal in recognition for her work in community health; and in 2022 she received the Australian Physiotherapy Council Service (Pat Maher) Award.