Dr Carol Dowling
Board Member

Carol Dowling is a Badimia (Yamatji) Maja (Leader/Knowledge Holder) whose family comes from the Central West of Western Australia. She is well known in both the Perth Noongar and Badimia communities for her community development, governance and activism.

She is longstanding Chairperson of Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation and founder and former Chair of Noongar Media Enterprises (Noongar Radio 100.9FM) in Perth. Carol is two-time Australian Human Rights Commission award winner in Radio (2013 & 2014) with her crafted radio documentaries.

Carol holds a Masters in Indigenous Research and Development and a Doctoral degree in Social Sciences from Curtin University. Her Doctoral research was an autoethnography focused on five generations of women in her maternal Badimia family and their experiences of colonial racism. Her identical twin sister is Dr Julie Dowling, a prestigious portrait artist of national and international calibre represented in most major Australian public and private collections.

Carol has been a long-term registered foster mother for her community. Her oldest foster son's experience of chronic ear infections inspired her to complete a major radio documentary series for the federal health department in 2012 focusing on Aboriginal child ear health in the Noongar community. The series won the 2013 National Community Broadcasting Association of Australia award for best documentary series and went onto win the Australian Human Rights Commission award for radio in the same year.

Carol has worked as Lecturer in Aboriginal Studies for over 33 years at Curtin University, Edith Cowan University and the University of Western Australia specialising in Aboriginal arts, Indigenous research methodologies, postgraduate studies, human rights, sustainability, politics and culture. In 2024 she won three Excellence in Teaching Awards including the Curtin Guild Award, nominated by her students.

Carol was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Badimia Bandi Barna Aboriginal Corporation (BBBAC). Carol, along with committee members and Badimia Elders, wrote a Healthy Country Plan that led to a $15.2M joint management agreement with the WA state government for 114,000 hectares, including two former pastoral leases and seven reserves.