Bligh joins Toukley Neighbourhood Centre Board

Phillip Bligh has joined the Board of Toukley Neighbourhood Centre, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience in Aboriginal matters with reconciliation being at the heart of his work.

He was born in Bourke, a small town in the north-west of NSW.

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 a domestic worker and stockman.

With his father being a Kullilli/Wakka Wakka man and his mother a Kalkadoon woman, Bligh became 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 in Queensland.

Now Bligh 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, he 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.

Bligh holds a BA (Liberal Studies) degree from Charles Sturt University.

He says reconciliation is at the heart of his work, seeking to overcome “division” by promoting a greater understanding of Aboriginal world views to diverse groups of people.

Bligh 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.

Bligh is also a foundation member and Vice President Operations of the 5 Lands Walk and 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.

He is co-founder of Beyond the Campfire Aboriginal Cultural Intelligence.

Bligh’s appointment to the Toukley Neighbourhood Centre Board followed the resignation of Frances Maddock.