“To feel happy about yourself, you must feel happy about the place you live in. To feel happy about the place you live in, you must get to know that place. To get to know that place, you must ask the people who have lived there the longest, the Aboriginal people. We have the key that can open the treasures of this land”
(Boori “Monty” Pryor Maybe Tomorrow)
Phil Bligh was born Bourke, a small town in the north-west of New South Wales. Both his parents were removed from their traditional lands as children and sent to Aboriginal missions in Queensland where they were taught Christian ideals and trained as domestic worker and stockman. His father a Kullilli/Wakka Wakka man and mother a Kalkadoon woman.
Phil is a member of the Kullilli Bulloo River Native Title Aboriginal Corporation established in 2014 to facilitate native title rights and interests of the Kullilli community, Queensland. He acknowledges the NSW Central Coast as his home and is an active long-standing member of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council. Prior to living on the Central Coast, Phil worked as a senior consultant with the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and senior policy analyst with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) where he directed the Education Portfolio. He holds a BA (Liberal Studies) degree from Charles Sturt University.
Reconciliation is at the heart of Phil Bligh’s work, seeking to overcome “division” by promoting a greater understanding of Aboriginal worldviews to diverse groups of people. He was a foundation member of The Ourimbah Protocol (TOP), a unique partnership between State Forests of NSW and Central Coast community groups and businesses. Inspired by Aboriginal values, TOP was the first collaborative forest management protocol to be made in NSW. Phil is also a foundation member of the 5 Lands Walk. His holistic approach to reconciliation within the 5 Lands Walk context involves sharing an Aboriginal appreciation of relationship to land, based on reconnecting with its spirit and story.
