With born-country of Melbourne and ties in the south, and adoptive and community/cultural ties all over that massive, ancient heart of the world, he finds himself known as an Indigenous thinker, an author, academic, educator, maker (traditional wood carving), arts critic, researcher, poet and host of The Other Others podcast. Founder of The Indigenous Knowledges Systems Lab, he helps people explore the meaning of kinship, it’s implications and deeper realities, revealed especially in patterns of place, and helping people begin to understand them.

He says that in the language of his family there is no word for “safe” but plenty for “protection”. And nor is there a direct word for “culture” – the nearest approximation of it means “be like your place.”

“Bodies in motion, bodies at rest. Unstoppable forces and immoveable objects. Big bangs. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction… dynamic systems of culture evolve over time through these interactions.”

“Ah,but,” he adds, “somewhere between action and reaction there is interaction, and that is where the fun lies.”

He is the author of Sand Talk: How indigenous thinking can save the world”