Inala Cooper

Inala Cooper is a Yawuru woman based in Narrm/Melbourne. Inala has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Human Rights Law and has long been an advocate for Indigenous rights and access to education. Currently she is the Director of Murrup Barak at University of Melbourne and is a regular contributor on ABC News Breakfast (and The Drum). Inala is a director on a range of not-for-profit boards including State Library Victoria, Emmanuel College Foundation, and Adam Briggs Foundation. She is the author of Marrul: Aboriginal Identity and the Fight for Rights. 

What does NAIDOC mean to you?

NAIDOC Week is our time to celebrate our diverse cultures and history and show the whole country our deadly achievements and successes. Our ways of knowing, doing and being are sovereign and evolving as we build on the work of our ancestors and Elders, to a solid and flourishing future for Mob. NAIDOC Week reminds us of the solidarity between our families and communities and provides space to be unapologetically Blak! Let’s carry that feeling every day of the year.