Warami,
My name is JD and I am a proud Darug man, living on Kombumerri Country.
My bloodline also contains some German, Irish and Scot heritage.
I am a confirmed descendant of Bungaree through Biddy Lewis of Marramarra Creek.
My Nan was the first generation of our family to leave Marramarra Creek, and has passed down knowledge, artifacts, and memories that pre-date the colonization of this place now called Australia.
Like many in my family I have a real issue with humbug.
I’ve only recently come to understand that my intolerance of deception, lies, and falsehood dressed up as fact goes far deeper that a preference for truth, honesty, and evidence.
As a neurodiverse AuHD’er, I was fortunate enough to have had enough support through my studies, in which I first obtained a Bachelor of Communications with a double major in Public Relations and Journalism, graduating in 2012. I later returned to Griffith University to obtain Bachelor of Laws, and since then a Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching.
I first met with representatives of the so-called GuriNgai, in January this year, via video conference call over Zoom. Present at this meeting were Neil Evers, Laurie Bimson, Paul Craig, Rebecca Hird Fletcher, Tracey-Lee Howie, and some others I do not recall.
I subsequently met these same people, in another meeting over Zoom, also in January.
Both times I was dumbstruck by their lack of awareness of what to me at least, are basic understanding of Aboriginal Culture, history, struggle and experience. They spoke as if the last 235 years had not occurred, and their demonstrated perceptions, language, and perspective on Aboriginality and Aboriginal People and Culture was very, very, very strange.
There were little things, like not knowing what the Koori Knockout was, not knowing what a 715 Health Check was, extreme preoccupations with skin tone, a lack of basic understanding from People claiming to be Uncle’s, Aunty’s and Elders, denigrating genuine Aboriginal People they did not agree with in the most casually hateful of ways, referring to Aboriginal People as “them” or as “Black“, but never, ever as ‘us.’
I didn’t quite know what was going on, but I knew these people were not mob; and I was left with the distinct impression I had accidently stumbled into a United Patriots Front feeder group, or at least a One Nation backroom Zoom chat.
After the second meeting I immediately implemented safety protocols, while continuing a number of processes for data collection. I only took a matter of days to discover, part of their fraud, enough to know there was more.
It took about 3 hours to discover some of my initial suspicions were correct, months to uncover the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’, and within 6 months there was a complete body of evidence of widespread fraud and unconscionable behavior on an industrial scale.
In January, once I had ensured my immediate family were aware of the situation and were safe, I drafted and sent the following to the Administrators of the ‘Family and Friends of Bungaree Facebook page RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Vice Chancellor’s ‘Indigenous’ Pre-doctoral Research Fellow Ms Rebecca Hird Fletcher, and University of Queensland Director Indigenous Business Hub (Acting) & Senior Lecturer School of Business, Dr Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, and Laurie Bimson:
When Director of Guringai Tribal Link Aboriginal Corporation, Tracey-Lee Howie left a threatening voicemail on the phone of a dear family member, I realised I was uniquely positioned Culturally in both family and Community, but also by vocation and training, to draw this sorry saga to a close; and I swore on NAIDOC that I would do everything I could, legally, ethically and Culturally to do just that.
On July 7, 2023, while on Country, I made public the results of my investigation into Guringai Tribal Link Aboriginal Corporation, titled A Long Con, Gone on Too Long, a record of the clear evidence of fraud, Cultural and otherwise, going back to 2001, and continuing today (last time I checked).
In spite of all of this, University of Queensland Director Indigenous Business Hub (Acting) & Senior Lecturer School of Business, Dr Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, who has been an active participant in, and considerable beneficiary of the GuriNgai deception, and built an entire career on her nebulous claims that don’t pass the most cursory scrutiny, attempts to use me of all people as a human shield as soon as she believes her fraud may finally be acknowledged beyond the already extraordinarily open secret throughout the Academy and beyond.
I’ve never met Sharlene, nor had her at family picnics, and as far as I am aware she is certainly no cousin of mine – she certainly has never acted like a family member. What I do know of Sharlene, is that her public ‘persona’ in no way reflects who she is, just as many of us have known for considerable time.
She is deeply enmeshed in the-called GuriNgai, and has been for as long as her actual cousins, Laurie Bimson, and Neil Evers.
She simply managed to fool a greater number of Culturally unaware, non-Aboriginal academics than Warren Whitfield, in order to get her own meaningless and clearly unearned accolades, and very generous lifestyle perks.
My hope is that finally some non-Aboriginal Authorities may finally hear our calls, and listen when we say these people are not Aboriginal People, by any definition.
This is not an ‘Aboriginal’ problem, as these people are demonstrably proven to not be Aboriginal, yet their actions effect us first and foremost, in ways no different from any other colonising enterprise. The harms are very real, the crimes comitted by these people are very real, and these GuriNgai somehow appear to be able to just keep on going.
If all i can do is draw attention to the evidence, then that is what I must do until this matter is settled, simple as that.
I hope you’ll find something of value here, even if it is simply an alternate viewpoint.
I also hope that if you find yourself intolerant of my viewpoint, you may find the time to do a little checking in with yourself.
As always I speak only for my self, and my views should not be taken to be anything more than that. Saying that I will strive to provide sound reasoning and evidence in my work.
I also want to thank to the many, many amazing people from all over Australia and the world who have reached out, shared info, stories, and just yarned and laughed.
You are all amazing, and I look forward to catching up soon.
Yanu.
Truth-telling from a neurodiverse perspective. 