The advocate for the rights of First Nations peoples has been on the board since 2023
Barrister Timothy Goodwin has been appointed the new board chair of Indigenous education organisation Aurora Education Foundation.
He stepped into the role last Thursday 27 November, replacing Charles Prouse. Goodwin first joined the board as a director in 2023.
Goodwin is a long-time champion of the rights of First Nations peoples. He worked on the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory as a junior counsel from 2016 to 2017.
The Yuin man is a commercial and public law expert who has worked in the not-for-profit sector and advised statutory authorities. He has tackled matters involving administrative law, constitutional law, discrimination and human rights law, government advice work, commissions and inquiries, regulatory action, and native title and land rights work.
While pursuing his master of laws degree at Harvard Law School, Goodwin developed an interest in the authority of Aboriginal people to own and control their land and the challenges faced by such groups.
Goodwin served as an Aurora intern at the Central Land Council in 2006. He was awarded the Roberta Sykes scholarship in 2011.
“I’m so pleased to welcome Tim as our board chair. He brings wisdom and care with the kind of mind and heart that lifts everyone around him. He understands how individual success can build collective strength, and I’m looking forward to what we’ll achieve together and the impact we’ll keep making in community”, said Aurora CEO Leila Smith.
Goodwin comes in as the organisation improves its alumni, policy, data and high school programs. He praised Prouse, his predecessor who was the first Indigenous chair to lead Aurora.
According to Aurora, the Nyikina man was key to its development into an Indigenous organisation.
“I am so excited to continue Aurora’s important work and build on the legacy of outgoing Chair Charles Prouse, who leaves Aurora stronger both culturally and organisationally. Over the coming years, our focus will be on allowing Indigenous excellence to flourish. We will work to unlock this capacity, to use what we know and what we've learnt, and to participate in and advocate for the transformation of systems”, Goodwin said. “I look forward to continue working with an amazing board, our phenomenal and inspiring leader, Leila Smith, and her executive team made up of a powerhouse of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people”.
The Aurora Education Foundation supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
