Professor Gracelyn Smallwood speaks out to Australian South Sea Islanders with her talk on ‘Community Cohesion and Activism’ at this year’s Wantok 2013 National Forum.

As a surviving descendant of the Blackbirding trade in Australia between 1863 and 1908, Professor Smallwood will be presenting a talk on ‘Community Cohesion and Activism’ at this years Wantok 2013 Australian South Sea Islanders National Forum in her capacity as leader of the Historical Advisory Panel to the ASSI.PJ interim national body.

Smallwood says… “When people in general don’t understand the history of Slavery they internalise their pain and take it out on the very people that are trying to promote unity, justice and reparation”. She looks forward to presenting at Wantok 2013 and answering any questions.

Emelda Davis says… “The ASSI-PJ board are humbled that Professor Smallwood is a volunteer advisor to the interim national body with her high range of qualifications. We look forward to Gracelyn’s presentation and continued work with our organisation.”

As well as a being scholar in residence at Drexel University Philadelphia USA, Gracelyn has lectured in cross-cultural studies at the East-West Centre in Hawaii and has also lectured at Universities in the West Indies comparing the philosophy of the late Marcus Garvey, Civil Rights Movement of the world with that of the South Sea Islander (Kanaka Slavery in Australia).

Civil Rights Activist in the United States, most notably the late Kwame There (nee Stockley Carmichael), promoted her lectures in the West Indies.

This was some 30 years ago and Gracelyn clearly recalls stating that while the rest of the world was going ahead with reparation of slavery and human rights violations, the South Sea Islander community in Australia wasn’t ready at that time largely because the majority had become born again Christians which gave them a class status that was superior to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. This mentality was identical to that of the white superintendants, who gave status and power to native police to kill their own people.

Gracelyn was a VIP guest of Nelson Mandela – President of South Africa in 1997 where she attended the 20-year memorial of the late Steve Biko as well as attending Truth and Reconciliation meetings at Hare University South Africa. She returned to Australia with the approval of Nelson Mandela (the President and his cabinet) with a delegation, as well as Bico’s two sons to address a Human Rights Conference that Smallwood hosted on Toowoomba, QLD.

The following year she toured and lectured in America and had the privilege of meeting Denzel Washington and to shake his hand and say how brilliantly he portrayed ‘Biko’ in the movie ‘Cry Freedom’.

Professor Smallwood is a former director of Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag Higher Education Toowoomba; former Director of Nursing at Hetti Perkins Home for the Aged in Alice Springs; former consultant to the State and Federal Ministers in Australia; as well as the World Health Organisation in Geneva. She has lectured on Thursday Island and numerous NGO’s and Government organisation’s across Australia and the world on all topics concerning Human Rights matters.

Gracelyn was a scholar in residents at the University of Hawaii and East West Centre Honolulu Hawaii. Professor Smallwood is a former Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor at James Cook University and one of the driving forces behind JCU’s progressive Reconciliation Statement. She remains and Adjunct Professor at this University and has been an editorial board member for the past 20 years on Public Health Human Rights for Harvard United States of America.

Smallwood works as a cross-cultural educator at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville, QLD and is currently a nurse, midwife and mentor at the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service where she was the first volunteer nurse and midwife 40 years ago and where she assisted in the establishment of that service.

She has a certificate in Swedish massage, a Master of Science degree in public health (specialising in HIV Aids, a doctorate of philosophy in health and Human Rights of First Nations Australian, and she remains an advisor in a voluntary capacity to the ASSI.PJ interim national body.

Smallwood’s recent achievements are:

• 1986 Queensland Aborigine of the Year.
• 1992 Australian Medal for Public Health and Human Rights.
• 1994 Henry Kemp Memorial Award for the prevention of child abuse in Melaysia.
• 2007 Deadly Award for Lifetime Achievement in public health.
• 24th October 2013 received the United Nations Award for her contribution to the community of over 45 yeas of Public Health in Human Rights.