Terri Janke

Terri Janke was born in Cairns in Queensland, of Torres Strait Islander and Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal heritage.

A proud Meriam and Wuthathi woman, Terri is a vocal advocate of stronger intellectual property protection for Indigenous artists.

Admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, she is widely regarded as one of the country’s top lawyers in Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights.

Terri has served on the boards of many prominent Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations and is the only Indigenous director on the Board of Tourism Australia.

In April 2008, Terri was invited by the Prime Minister to be a delegate at the Australia 2020 Summit.

As well as writing and speaking internationally about Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, Terri is an accomplished writer of fiction. Her first novel, Butterfly Song, was published in 2005 and she is currently working on a follow-up.