Rate My Professor Carol Dowling

Associate Professor Carol Dowling is a Badimaya/Yamatji woman from the central west of Western Australia affiliated with the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University. She holds a Master's degree in Indigenous Research and Development and a Doctorate in Social Sciences from Curtin University. Her doctoral research entailed an autoethnography focused on five generations of women in her maternal Badimia family and their experiences of colonial racism. Dowling has worked as a lecturer in Aboriginal Studies for over 33 years at Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, and the University of Western Australia. Her teaching covers Aboriginal arts, Indigenous research methodologies, postgraduate studies, human rights, sustainability, politics, and culture. She currently holds the position of Associate Professor in the Centre for Aboriginal Studies, located in Building 211, Room 140 on the Curtin Perth campus.

Dowling's research interests encompass relational pedagogy and decolonising spaces. A prominent publication is 'Realising decolonising spaces: relational accountability in research events' (2023), co-authored with Tod Jones, Libby Porter, Cheryl Kickett-Tucker, and Shaphan Cox, published in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. Another significant work is 'Finding Your Own Kind or My Grandmother's Mother's Mother—the Exhibit!' (2007), appearing in the Australian Feminist Law Journal. In 2024, she won three Excellence in Teaching Awards, including the Curtin Student Guild Award, nominated by her students. Dowling contributes to Indigenous community leadership as the longstanding Chairperson of Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation and founder and former Chair of Noongar Media Enterprises, which operates Noongar Radio 100.9FM. She produced a major radio documentary series in 2012 for the federal health department on Aboriginal child ear health in the Noongar community, securing the 2013 National Community Broadcasting Association of Australia award for best documentary series and Australian Human Rights Commission radio awards in 2013 and 2014. Additionally, as founder and inaugural Chair of the Badimia Bandi Barna Aboriginal Corporation, she co-wrote a Healthy Country Plan with Elders, resulting in a $15.2 million joint management agreement with the Western Australian government for 114,000 hectares, including two former pastoral leases and seven reserves. She serves as a board member of the Earbus Foundation.