We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Travis is a proud Torres Strait Islander man from Ugar, Iama and Erub Islands. He is also part of the LGBTIQA+ community and grew up in Mildura on Latji Latji country.
With years of experience as an Executive Assistant, Travis has transitioned through various corporate roles, gaining valuable skills Including community organising at Seed Mob in an Executive Assistant role before expanding his knowledge in the Operations manager roles. These experiences have equipped him with skills in coordination, project management and communication - key strengths for his future goal of producing film and television.
Travis’s journey with Common Ground First Nations reignited his passion for writing, a craft he explored many years ago when his poem “Home” won first place at the Mildura Writers Festival. Now, Travis is working on a book, series idea and pilot based on his life and has written an unproduced short film.
Deeply passionate about storytelling as truth-telling and the power of lived experience, Travis envisions telling stories that showcase the strength, talent and beauty of our people and experiences. His vision is to create stories that are confident, healing and real - stories that shift the narrative on trauma, humanising the experiences many First Nations queer people face and how we are the biggest strength to the collective. He is committed to creating spaces for learning, relatability and capacity building. Driven by a vision to change how people perceive these journeys through honest and heartfelt storytelling.
Travis is very passionate about ensuring First Nations peoples voices are heard and that we can share our stories our ways, by taking pride in our Country, land, sea and the people in our communities we can make change and work towards a culturally strong and empowering future for our next generations
Rona is a proud Kaytetye woman from Central Australia who works with high impact organisations to create systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and solutions.
Rona is the founder of Common Ground and brings 7 years
of professional experience working across First Nations organisations and not for profits. Rona was previously the Director of First Nations at YLab, a social enterprise that puts young people with diverse lived experiences at the centre of designing and developing innovative and impactful solutions
to complex social issues. Over her career, Rona has worked in policy at the Central Land Council, the Research Unit for Indigenous Languages at the University of Melbourne, Reconciliation Victoria, and the Foundation for Young Australians.In 2020, Rona was a finalist for the Victorian Young Achiever awards, was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship. In 2019 Rona won a Diana Award and was named a 'Woman of the Future' by Women's Weekly.Through her work with First Nations communities across Australia, Rona aims to create future systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and cultures.Rona currently resides in Mpartnwe on Arrernte Country.
We are a First Nations not-for-profit that exists to centre First Nations people, Country and truth-telling. We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
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