Jack of Hearts (morning yarn)

Ngaire Jarro (nee Huggins) is from Bidjara/Birri Gubba Juru nations. Born in Ayr, North Queensland, she grew up in a close-knit family in Brisbane nurtured by their strong mother Rita. Ngaire lives at The Gap, Brisbane with her husband Rodney. She is the proud mother of three boys and two grandchildren. Ngaire graduated with a double degree in Early Childhood Education and has been a teacher for 26 years. She loves teaching and sharing her Aboriginal culture with students with a strong belief that sharing stories in early years of schooling will not only educate future generations but provide a more inclusive society for all.

Cheryl Leavy is from the Kooma and Nguri Nations in western and central Queensland.

An emerging poet, Cheryl was the 2022 winner of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Prize for Indigenous Poetry. Her work has also been published in Cordite. Cheryl is currently working on a Children’s book based on her poetry, to be published by UQP.

Cheryl has enjoyed a long career in the arts and cultural sector and has served on many arts boards, including the Brisbane Writers Festival, where she established and Chairs the First Nations Advisory Committee.

Cheryl’s day job sees her working to achieve land justice for First Nations peoples across Queensland.  

Dr Jackie Huggins AM FAHA, a member of the Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru peoples, is currently leading the work for Treaty/Treaties in Queensland. In popular demand as a speaker on Aboriginal issues, she is a well-known historian and author, with articles published widely in Australia and internationally. Her acclaimed biography of her mother, Auntie Rita, was published in 1994 and in 2022 her biography of her father, Jack of Hearts: QX11594 was published.

She was the former Co-Chair National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, former member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Co-Chair Reconciliation Australia, the State Library Board of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was Co-Commissioner for Queensland for the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, and for several years was a Judge of the annual David Unaipon Award.