Portrait of the day: Aileen Moreton-Robinson

Born on September 1, 1956, Aileen Moreton-Robinson is an Australian academic, indigenous feminist, author, and activist for Indigenous rights.

Born on September 1, 1956, Aileen Moreton-Robinson is an Australian academic, indigenous feminist, author, and activist for Indigenous rights. She is an Aboriginal woman of the Goenpul tribe, part of the Quandamooka nation on Stradbroke Island in Queensland. She is the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to a mainstream lecturing position in women's studies in Australia. She has held positions in women's studies at Flinders University and Indigenous studies at Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology. She is currently the Professor of Indigenous Research at RMIT and formerly Dean, Indigenous Research and Engagement at the Queensland University of Technology and Director of the National Indigenous Research and Knowledges Network.

In 1998, she completed a Ph.D. at Griffith University with a thesis titled Talkin' up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism in Australia. The thesis was later published as a book in 1999 and was short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Stanner Award.