Henrietta Marrie (née Fourmile) (born 1954) is an Australian indigenous rights activist. She is an Aboriginal Australian from the

Yidinji tribe The Yidiny (also spelt Yidindj, Yidinji or Yidiñ), are an Aboriginal Australian people in Far North Queensland. Their language is the Yidiny language. Language The last fluent speakers of Yidiny were Tilly Fuller (d. October 1974), George Davi ...

, directly descended from Ye-i-nie, an Aboriginal leader in the Cairns region. In 1905, the Queensland Government awarded Ye-i-nie with a king plate in recognition of her local status as a significant Walubara Yidinji leader. She 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. The '' Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia'' identifies Marrie as a notable Aboriginal Australian in an entry that includes:Bancroft, R (1994) "Fourmile, H" in Horton (General Editor) '' The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society, and Culture'' Aboriginal Studies Press. Canberra.

Fourmile 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.

She has been a senior fellow at the United Nations University and an Adjunct Associate Professor with the

Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining The Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) is a member of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland. CSRM was established in 2001 as a research centre committed to improving the social performance of the glo ...

at the University of Queensland. She is currently Associate Professor, Office of Indigenous Engagement at the

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

campus of the Central Queensland University. In 2018, she was named as one of the Queensland Greats by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in a ceremony at the Queensland Art Gallery on 8 June 2018.

Country

Marrie's country within local Aboriginal tradition,GEDO EcoDesign Webpage '2006 Global EcoDesign Dialogues Speaker Profiles' Accessed 21 October 2008 to which she holds some property rights under Native Title law, is that country that was once wholly possessed, occupied, used and enjoyed by "King" Ye-i-nie and the Walubarra Yidinji families generally:

The area of the foreshore of the
City of Cairns The City of Cairns was a local government area centred on the Far North Queensland city of Cairns. Established in 1885, for most of its existence it consisted of approximately around Cairns itself, with much of the metropolitan area being loc ...
was traditionally known as Gimuy – after the Slippery Blue Fig Tree. The traditional lands of the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji People extend south of the Barron River to Wrights Creek (south of Edmonton), west into the ranges behind Cairns, and east into Trinity Inlet, including Admiralty Island, to the adjacent waters of the outer Great Barrier Reef. The lands in the Cairns suburb of Woree, close to Admiralty Island and Trinity Inlet, were the principal traditional camping grounds of the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people.

Biographical details

Marrie was born and raised in Yarrabah, Queensland (an Aboriginal community approx 7 km south-east of

), the eldest daughter of Henry Fourmile (aka ''Queballum'' – cyclone), grandson to the Yidinji warrior Ye-i-nie (Aboriginal Peace Maker and "King" of

). She went to school in Yarrabah, and later studied teaching at the

South Australian College of Advanced Education The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

, where she first obtained a Diploma in Teaching. Later, after the College had been transformed into the University of South Australia, she obtained a Graduate Diploma of Arts (Indigenous Studies). By 1988 Marrie was lecturing at Griffith University, Brisbane, and in 1991 had managed to return to Cairns (Gimuy) region, where she first assisted co-ordinate the Cairns College of Technical and Further Education's Aboriginal ranger training program, then by 1994, had become the Cairns Coordinator of a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Participation, Research and Development Centre in

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

. From Cairns, Marrie undertook a Masters in Environmental and Local Government Law (through

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

). Her interests and concerns moved to

biocultural diversity Biocultural diversity is defined by Luisa Maffi, co-founder and director of Terralingua, as "the diversity of life in all its manifestations: biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated (and possibly coevolved) within a comple ...

, indigenous intellectual property, and traditional ecological knowledge,Christensfund's Program Officer Biographies page
Accessed 6 December 2008 and as such, by 1997, she had moved on and taken up a position with the United Nations Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity, where she was the first Aboriginal Australian to be appointed to a full-time professional position in a United Nations agency. Since 2003, Marrie moved her focus back towards Cairns, first working as the Christensenfund's North Australian Program Officer assisting that philanthropic organisation distribute grants and funds to help promote, sustain, and encourage indigenous biocultural diversity across Australia's north (including the Cairns region), and now working as an associate professor at the Central Queensland University's Cairns campus.

Awards and honours

* Member of the Order of Australia (General Division): named a member of the Order of Australia on Australia Day, 26 January 2018, for her significant service to the community as an advocate for indigenous cultural heritage and intellectual property rights, and to education, with the Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey officially presenting the honor to her at a ceremony held on 30 April 2018Central Queensland University (2018) "CQ UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OFFICIALLY PRESENTED WITH ORDER OF AUSTRALIA (AM
Central Queensland University Media
2 May 2018

Publications

* * * * * * * * * (1992) 1(56) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 3. * * * * *
Fourmile, Henrietta (1996) "Making Things Work: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Involvement in BioRegional Planning" Biodiversity Series Paper No. 10. Department of Environment, Sport & Territories
Accessed 18 August 2017

References

External links

Henrietta Marrie's 'Deadly Story', Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
Accessed 12 June 2018
Aboriginal Intellectual Property Rights on Medicinal Plants with Henrietta Marrie - 3CR Earth Matters January 2017
Accessed 16 December 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Marrie, Henrietta Indigenous Australian writers Australian indigenous rights activists Women human rights activists Living people 1954 births Queensland Greats Central Queensland University faculty