Doseena Fergie

Doseena Fergie is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman of Wuthathi, Mabulag Island and Ambonese descent. She has a passion for social justice and advocacy and is a visionary and strategic planner. Doseena is a nurse/midwife/maternal and child health nurse, having gained experience in management and clinical services across the ages. She coordinated the Aboriginal Health Team in the Outer Eastern Metro Region for 11 years and built up the Aboriginal workforce team.

Doseena is an Academic at the Australian Catholic University, has a PhD on Aboriginal Women’s Business. She was awarded a 2016 Churchill Fellowship which took her to Indigenous nations in Europe, Canada, USA and New Zealand to study the relationship of intergenerational trauma and culture; and was inducted into the 2016 Victorian Women’s Roll of Honour. In 2019 she was awarded a Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) Fellowship. In 2019 she received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to community health. Doseena is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a life member of Oonah Gathering Place, located in outer-eastern Melbourne. She has successfully completed her PhD on Aboriginal Women’s Business and works on projects which place Indigenous history, knowing and culture across Australian Catholic University curriculum, as well as involvement in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous post graduate students and academics.

Doseena is a founding member of Woor-Dungin, which means ‘share’ in the language of the Gunnai people of south-eastern Victoria, and sharing is the philosophy underpinning the Woor-Dungin model. Woor-Dungin is a living model for successful partnerships among Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and philanthropic and pro bono partners. Doseena intends to continue to be a member because she believes that support should be given to the Aboriginal communities in Victoria through philanthropic partnerships in order to grow and provide for her people those resources necessary to enhance life.

Doseena would like to encourage philanthropic organisations and government departments to learn more about the resilience of Aboriginal people and the positive things that are happening in the communities throughout Victoria. She believes that Woor-Dungin showcases a model that could be duplicated throughout Australia.