We’ll kick off festivities with a welcome address by Henrietta Marrie AM, elder of the Gimuy Walubara clan of the Yidinji people and Traditional Owner of the land on which the City of Cairns and southern suburbs are now located and performance by the Yidinji Women's Dance Troupe, representing the Traditional Owners of Gimuy/Cairns.

Through song, movement and rhythm, their performances honour Yidinji law, Country and cultural continuity. Drawing on rainforest Bama traditions, including cassowary-inspired dances, their practice speaks to ancestral knowledge carried forward and enduring connection to place.

Your MC for the day, Executive Producer of WOW Festivals & events in Australia, Jo Pratt, will then introduce a few key guests before we head into the first sessions of the day.

Speakers

Professor Henrietta Marrie AM

Professor Henrietta Marrie (née Fourmile) (born 1954) is an Honorary Professor with the Australian Research Council. She is an Aboriginal Australian from the Yidinji tribe, directly descended from Ye-i-nie, an Aboriginal leader in the Cairns region. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2018 for her service to Indigenous rights, education, and cultural heritage 

Professor Henrietta Marrie is an advocate for the rights of her own Gimuy Walubarra Yidinji families, as well as for the cultural rights of indigenous peoples nationally and internationally and has been involved in extensive research in the areas of Aboriginal cultural heritage and museums, the politics of Aboriginal heritage and the arts and recently the area of Aborigines and cultural tourism. 

Professor Henrietta Marrie was a senior fellow at the United Nations University and an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the University of Queensland. In 2018, Professor Henrietta Marrie was named as one of the Queensland Greats by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. 

Jo Pratt

As the Executive Producer of WOW Festivals & events in Australia, Jo leads a growing movement advancing gender equity through festivals, conversations and community engagement. Over the past eight years, she has helped expand the WOW movement across Australia, creating platforms that bring together women, girls, and increasingly men and boys, to explore how we build more equal, connected, and inclusive communities.  A mum of 3 sons, Jo is personally passionate about creating spaces for constructive conversations around masculinity, care, leadership, and belonging and exploring initiatives that engage men and boys as active participants in advancing gender equity through WOW Australia’s partnerships across government, business, philanthropy, education, and the arts to shape new models for community-led change.