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 Henrietta Marrie AM (Masters in Environmental and Local Government Law; Dip. T; Grad. Dip. of  Arts [Indigenous Studies]) is an Elder of the Gimuy Walubara clan of the Yidinji people and Traditional Owner of the land on which the City of Cairns and southern suburbs are now located.  Henrietta has wide experience in Indigenous cultural and natural resource management and impact assessment, intellectual and cultural property law, heritage legislation and philanthropy.  As an academic she has had published over 50 papers in books and journals. She served for 6 years with the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, before becoming the Program Officer/Manager for North Australia with The Christensen Fund, a California-based private philanthropic fund, a position in which she served for nine years. She was also a Visiting Fellow with the United Nations University – Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (based in Tokyo, and which serves as a research institution and “think tank” for various UN agencies) working on the Institute’s Traditional Knowledge Initiative. Henrietta served as Associate Professor (Indigenous Engagement) and director of the First Peoples Think Tank with Central Queensland University, working from the Cairns campus from 2015 to June 2020.  She is a Co-Patron of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, a position she shares with the Governor of Queensland. Henrietta is listed among the Westpac and Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence for 2014 for her work in public policy. On January 26th 2018 Henrietta was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division, and on June 8th she was recognised as a Queensland Great. Subject of a stunning mural portrait by Claire Foxton on the southern wall of the Cairns Corporate Tower, Lake Street, Henrietta’s life and accomplishments have also been dramatised in the play Bukal produced by the JUTE Theatre Company in association with CQUniversity, and which premiered on 10th July 2018. In November 2020 Henrietta was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and is an expert adviser to the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. 

  A proud Kalkutungu, Waanyi, Ngaro and Mualgal woman, Seleena is passionate about playing her part to create equitable futures for First Nations people. Currently working as a First Nations Project Officer for Queensland Tourism Industry Council, Seleena is an advocate for genuine collaboration with First Nations peoples, employment and training opportunities and creating a state-wide platform for First Nations led story-telling. 

Seleena has been involved in statewide initiatives with her 2022 appointment to the Interim Truth and Treaty Body and 2024 appointment to the First Nations Treaty Institute Council under the Path to Treaty process.  At the time she was the youngest person to have been involved and continues to be an advocate for honest truth-telling and truth-listening in Queensland.

In her personal life, Seleena is a practioner of Kalkutungu culture, a traditional dancer and artist who pays respect to her family, elders and ancestors for the knowledge passed on to her.