Leonard Michael Collard (born 24 December 1959) is a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

elder,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

chief investigator at the School of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Studies,

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. Collard is a

Whadjuk Whadjuk, alternatively Witjari, are Noongar (Aboriginal Australian) people of the Western Australian region of the Perth bioregion of the Swan Coastal Plain. Name The ethnonym appears to derive from ''whad'', the Whadjuk word for "no". Countr ...

/ Balardong

, the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He has a background in literature and communications, and has researched areas including Noongar interpretive histories and Noongar theoretical and practical research models. In 2011 Collard commenced a three-year study of Noongar place names and intends to create a public website of 25,000 Noongar words for different places around the South West of Western Australia. In 2014 he announced his project to create the world's first online Aboriginal encyclopaedia,

Noongarpedia Noongarpedia is a collaborative project to add Noongar language content to Wikimedia projects and to improve all languages' content relating to Noongar topics. It is being driven by an Australian Research Council project from the University of We ...

, to preserve the endangered Noongar language.

Publications

* ''Mooro nyungar katitijin bidi - Mooro peoples knowledge trail : interpretation of the City of Stirling Local Government Area literature review.'' Leonard Collard, Angela Rooney and Laura Stocker, 2014 * ''Nartji katitj bidi ngulluckiny korrl? : (which knowledge path will we travel?).'' Len Collard and Sandra Harben, 2010. * ''Beeliar Boodjar : an introduction to the Aboriginal history of the City of Cockburn based on existing literature.'' Leonard Collard and Clint Bracknall, 2001. * ''Nyittiny : cosmology of the Nuyngar of South-Western Australia.'' Leonard Collard, 2008 * ''Aboriginal young people in the southeast of Western Australia : implications for youth policy.'' Len Collard and Dave Palmer, 1991.

External links

Len Collard - Who are you?
Collard's story in his own words - ABC Radio Perth recorded 5 July 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collard, Leonard Academic staff of the University of Western Australia Noongar elders 1959 births Living people People from Pingelly, Western Australia