Debra Dank

Dr Debra Dank

Enterprise Fellow

School of Humanities

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities


I am Gudanji/Wakaja, from the Barkly Tablelands region in the Northern Territory and Kalkadoon, now called Mount Isa.
For 40 years I have worked in various roles in primary, secondary, and tertiary education including class teacher (primary and secondary), special education teacher, senior teacher, regional consultant, regional manager, lecturer, senior lecturer, and Head of School (tertiary). I have worked in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory in urban and remote contexts.
I worked to establish the Indigenous Literacy Foundation which included extensive work with remote communities to develop a robust but flexible service delivery model that supported place-based, community-identified responses to literary needs in early childhood education, provision of appropriate literature for remote communities, and the production of reading material for English as a Second language contexts. 
I am particularly interested in understanding more about how narrative, in its broadest sense, is practiced in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and what role semiotics plays in that understanding. 
I am passionate about being a good guest with the environment. 

Year Citation
2025 Dank, D. (2025). Friday essay: Debra Dank’s grandmother was a ‘drover’s boy’. Her stolen wages can’t be recovered. The Conversaton.
2024 Dank, D. (2024). Water sites and songline rites: A new-old science. Science Write Now.
2024 Edwards, N., Hogarth, C., & Dank, D. (2024). Old stories, new words - multilingualism in a colonised space/place. Journal of Literary Multilingualism, 2(2), 289-305.
DOI
2024 Dank, D. S., & Joseph, S. (2024). Under the scrutiny of the emu. Literary Journalism Studies, 15(1), 183-199.
2024 Dank, D. (2024). IALJS-18 Keynote Address .. . Under the Scrutiny of the Emu. LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES, 15(1), 238 pages.
2024 Dank, D. (2024). Under the Scrutiny of the Emu. Literary Journalism Studies, 15(1), 182-199.

Year Citation
2025 Dank, D. (2025). Terraglossia. Echo.
2025 Dank, D. (2025). Ankami Stolen Children, Shattered Families, Silenced Histories.

Year Citation
2024 Dank, D. (2024). Past-making within the present. In C. Culver (Ed.), Griffith Review 84 (84 ed., pp. 145-152). Griffith University.

Year Citation
2022 Authors: Dank D. Title: We Come with This Place. Extent: N/A.
2019 Authors: Dank D. Title: A Feather. Extent: online journal.

Year Citation
2021 Dank, D. (2021). Landscape, Language and Gudanji: Polyphonic Expressions in Multimodal Narrative Performance. (PhD Thesis, Deakin University).
  • Old ways for new stories: Contemporary Aboriginal Multi-generational Storying, Copyright Agency, 01/10/2025 - 30/04/2026

  • Pymble Narrative Project, Pymble Ladies College, 20/11/2023 - 30/11/2023

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2026 Co-Supervisor Stronger Foundations: an examination of colonial entanglement, historical responsibility, and future truth telling at the Adelaide University Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Nicola McRae Butler
2025 Co-Supervisor An exploration of spiritual relationships to Country/Place within the Flinders Ranges, Adelaide Plains and Fleurieu Peninsula. How can Indigenous spiritual relationships to Country and non-Indigenous relationship to Place respectfully co-exist? Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Rebecca Louise Hicks
2024 Co-Supervisor Blackbirding and Cross-Cultural Ties Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Kristal Brown
2024 Co-Supervisor Creative Folklore Journalism and the forgotten tales of South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jayden Bartlett
2024 Co-Supervisor Decolonising curatorial practices: the relationship between curation and Indigenous artistic representation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Kat Bell
2022 Co-Supervisor ‘Origins’: Belonging through a contemporary ethics of compassion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Michelle Symes

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2025 - 2026 Co-Supervisor ‘Origins’: Belonging through a contemporary ethics of compassion Adelaide University - Doctorate Full Time Michelle Symes

Date Role Board name Institution name Country
2024 - ongoing Board Member Aboriginal Advisory Board Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Australia

Date Title Engagement Type Institution Country
2014 - ongoing Cultural Ambassador Public Community Engagement Indigenous Literacy Foundation Australia

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