AustLit

'Ridgeway, Executive Director of the N.S.W. Aboriginal Land Council, talks about his upbringing on the Bellwood Aboriginal Reserve in northern New South Wales; his move to Sydney with his mother and brother while still at primary school; his attendance at St. John's College in Lismore on an Aboriginal study grant; the influence of his Catholic education; early work experiences in a factory and in the National Parks and Wildlife Service; political influence of his grandmother, Phoebe Mumbler; employment in the NSW public service in various departments; departure from public service to work for NSW Aboriginal Land Council; his view of the relationship between Aboriginal land issues and environmental groups and mining interests; the role of the NSW Land Council; land claims in NSW; Aboriginality and bi-culturalism; the Aboriginal Mediation course developed for the Australian Commercial Disputes Centre; native title; the NSW Geographical Names Board; the role of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.

'Ridgeway discusses the need for agreements to be reviewed; reconciliation; joint management issues; cultural appropriation; the Murray-Darling Basin Commission; water; Mabo legislation; his admiration for Neville Bonner; Aboriginal leadership in the 1990s compared to the 1970s; sovereignty; personal qualities and life and his desire to reintroduce the Gumbaynggir language. He also speculates about his position, and that of the Land Council, in seven years' time.'(Interview summary)