Oodgeroo (meaning 'paperbark tree') of the Noonuccal people of Stradbroke Island was known as Kath Walker until she returned to her language name in 1988 as a sign of protest against Australia's Bicentenary celebrations and as a symbol of pride in an Aboriginal heritage.

Brought up on North Stradbroke Island east of Brisbane, Oodgeroo Noonuccal was educated at Dunwich State School until the age of thirteen and then became a domestic servant.

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.

A writer, film maker and performance poet, Romaine Moreton is from the Goernpil people of Stradbroke Island and the Bundjulung people of northern New South Wales. Romaine came from a farming and seasonal working family that later settled in the country town of Bodalla, New South Wales.

It was while she was growing up in the country that Romaine developed a love of storytelling. Picking beans in a field, she'd make up stories about her surroundings. Throughout high school, her teachers encouraged her to become a writer, a suggestion she rejected at first and warmed to later.

Tracey Bunda's family are the Wakka Wakka and the Goenpul people. Her career in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education began in 1986 at the Gippsland Institute in Victoria. She later became the convenor of the Weemala Centre, Australian Catholic University, the Director of the Wollotuka Centre at Newcastle University and the Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education at Ngunnalwal Centre at the University of Canberra. Associate Professor Bunda was appointed Director of the Yunggorendi First Nations Centre in Flinders University of South Australia in 2005.

Michelle Blanchard is a descendant of the people of North Stradbroke Island (Minjeeribah) in Queensland. She has served as the Deputy Director of the Koori Centre at the University of Sydney and taught within the broader area of Aboriginal Studies. Blanchard holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (Creative Writing) and is well known as in the areas of radio, stage, film, and print. Blanchard's PhD research, undertaken with the University of Technology Sydney, explores the relationships between Western theatre practice and the role of Indigenous performance.

Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Geonpul woman from Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Quandamooka First Nation (Moreton Bay) in Queensland. Professor Moreton-Robinson has held the position of Convenor in Indigenous Studies at Griffith University's School of Humanities and has held academic posts at Flinders University, the University of South Australia, Brisbane College of Advanced Education, and The University of Queensland. More recently, she has been Dean of Indigenous Research and Engagement at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool, formerly known as Denis Walker is the eldest son of highly respected Aboriginal campaigner and writer, Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Kabool played a key role in the formation of the National Tribal Council in 1970. The organisation was established to assert Aboriginal self determination nationally. In 1972, Kabool formed an Australian version of the Black Panther Party. Since the 1970s, Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool has worked towards the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services and the improvement of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.