Lillian Rose Holt (BA, MA) was born at Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement, Queensland, in 1945. She was the first Aboriginal person in Queensland to have worked for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) in Toowong, Brisbane from 1962 to 1966. In 1960, at a time when Aboriginal students were rarely given the opportunity to attend secondary school, Lillian was among the first dozen Aboriginal students to go to Murgon High School, Queensland, following her sister's entry to the school the previous year. There she studied for her junior certificate (Year 10).
In 1967 she returned to study for her senior (Year 12) matriculation in order to enter university. In 1977 Lillian completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland, with majors in English and Journalism. She was awarded her Master of Arts by the University of Northern Colorado in 1980, and by 2000 had enrolled as a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne.
Lillian was also the first Aboriginal Executive Officer for the National Aboriginal Education Committee, Canberra (a federal advisory body to the Commonwealth government) in 1978; and the first Aboriginal principal at Tauondi, Port Adelaide (an adult Aboriginal community college) from 1990-1996. She worked for sixteen years (1980-1996) at Tauondi, firstly as teacher, then deputy principal, then principal.
Lillian has been a public speaker for the past twenty years, travelling extensively internationally; she was appointed as a University of Melbourne Fellow in 2003 -2005, prior to that she was Director of the Centre for Indigenous Education, University of Melbourne.
