Lisa Bellear was a Goernpil woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Queensland. She was a poet, writer, visual artist, academic and social commentator who was actively involved in Indigenous affairs throughout Australia. She was an executive member of the Black Women's Action in Education Foundation (BWAEF) and was a volunteer broadcaster on 3CR community radio for eleven years on the 'Not Another Koori Show.' She completed a Bachelor of Social Work in 1986 and completed a Master of Arts (Womens Studies) in 1996 from the University of Melbourne.
An avid photographer, Bellear took thousands of photographs over the many years she had spent engaged with Indigenous affairs, both politically and socially. Bellear read at literary festivals, pubs and conferences across Australia and in the USA and was been published nationally in literary journals, newspapers and anthologies.
She died unexpectedly at her home in Melbourne, Victoria.