Rate My Professor Brooke Collins-Gearing

Dr Brooke Collins-Gearing is a Senior Lecturer in English and Writing in the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, within the College of Human and Social Futures, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. A Murri woman with mixed heritage from Kamilaroi Country, she completed her PhD in 2002, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Bachelor of Arts, and Diploma in Education, all at the University of Newcastle. Her career in academia began with teaching Aboriginal Studies and Literature at the University of Newcastle from 1999 to 2003. She then taught at the University of Southern Queensland from 2004 to 2006 before returning to the University of Newcastle as a Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Science in March 2006, advancing to Senior Lecturer. She currently serves as the Indigenous Engagement Coordinator on the school executive team and holds responsibilities as Program Convenor for relevant programs.

Collins-Gearing's research interests center on children's literature, Indigenous literature, Australian literature and film, including non-Indigenous representations of Indigenality in Australian children's literature, reading practices of young Murri youth, reading for Indigenous tertiary students, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaborations in film and literature. Her research fields are distributed as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature (50%), young adult literature (25%), and children's literature (25%). She received the ARC Discovery Indigenous Researchers' Development Fellowship from January 2006 to December 2007. Key publications include her PhD thesis 'When the hairy man meets Blinky Bill: the representation of indigenality in Australian children’s literature' (2002); journal articles such as 'Re-Reading Representations of Indigenality in Australian Children's Literature: a History' (2006), 'Growing up the future: children's stories and Aboriginal ecology' (2012, with B. Kwaymullina et al.), 'Burning Off: Indigenising the Discipline of English' (2016, with R. Smith), 'Flourishing in Country: An Examination of Well-Being in Australian YA Fiction' (2020, with A. Britten), ''Criminal Dreaming': Reimagining Crime and Justice in Australian Aboriginal Crime Fiction' (2025, with J. Gulddal), and 'Imperfect Seclusion: Critiquing Networks and Networking Critique' (2025, with A. Rolls); as well as chapters like 'Aboriginal Australian Picturebooks: Ceremonial Listening to Plants' (2023). She contributed editorially to The Australian Canadian Studies (2004). Her scholarship influences indigenising English discipline and cultural representations in Australian narratives through publications in journals including M/C Journal, Westerly, and Australian Journal of Indigenous Education.