Aboriginal Heritage Office Staff

David Watts, Aboriginal Heritage Manager

David has been the Aboriginal Heritage Manager for the past seven years. He has extensive experience in managing, surveying and assessing development impact on Aboriginal Sites. He has participated in many site excavations and assessments of potential Aboriginal Sites.

He has been involved with Aboriginal Site Care for many years and has provided specialist management and cultural tourism advice, including the development of several Aboriginal Heritage Walks within the northern Sydney region.

He has delivered Aboriginal Cultural Awareness programs for over 10 years and has been invited to Greenland, Boulder University in Colorado and Native North American Communities throughout the US, to visit and lecture on Aboriginal Culture/Sites and Indigenous Land Management.

Phil Hunt, Archaeologist

Phil has been archaeological advisor to the Aboriginal Heritage Office since 2003. He has over 15 years' experience in all aspects of Aboriginal heritage management.

He has been involved with cultural and natural heritage conservation for many years, with participation in such diverse projects as mapping areas of cultural heritage in Peru and Russia and surveying endangered snow leopards in Mongolia, as well as leading Aboriginal site surveys and preparing site management plans in many regions of Australia.

Phil presents Aboriginal Sites Awareness courses to community groups, schools and Councils and also has experience in video and documentary production.

Jess Currie, Project Officer

Jess has been employed by Willoughby City Council to research and write the Aboriginal history of Willoughby. Jess has been a volunteer with the AHO for some time and as part of her degree in Environmental Management at Macquarie University she produced a video research project analysing the management of Aboriginal heritage and the importance of community education, focusing on the AHO.

Her background is in environmental education, history and heritage management, including a project in the Northern Territory looking at Indigenous involvement in tourism development.

Sue Pinckham, Aboriginal Social Planner

Sue Pinckham is a Biripi woman from the Hawke's Nest area on the mid north coast of NSW. She has worked for many years to advance the rights of Aboriginal people across broader society. Addressing the inequity of services, service development and provision, ensuring the inclusion of culture and appropriate service delivery.

Throughout her professional career Sue has been instrumental in engaging Aboriginal communities locally, state-wide and nationally to develop, implement and lead change towards ensuring self-determination works at a local level and is inclusive.

A founding member of Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women's Legal Centre. Worked collaboratively across Government (all levels) and non Government organizations with policy development and evaluation of service delivery to ensure Aboriginal access and equity. Presented papers on Domestic Violence, Family Violence, Sexual assault, Mental Health, Women, Youth and children.

Sue commenced in November 2007 as the Aboriginal Social Planner for the Northern Sydney suburbs.

Athena Mumbulla, Aboriginal Heritage Officer

Athena Mumbulla is a Gumbanggri woman of Nambucca Heads, raised on the northern beaches and the inner city of Sydney. Athena conducts educational and training presentations to promote understanding of Aboriginal heritage.

Working for the Aboriginal Heritage Office offers Athena a great opportunity working with local government and the community in the Northern Sydney region.

Athena enjoys taking community groups on guided walks and explaining the various complexities of her Aboriginal culture.