Madonna Thomson is a member of the Jagera People and is a grand niece of the late Senator Neville Bonner. Madonna has worked with the Aboriginal Communities in South East Queensland (SEQ) with a particular focus on developing and sharing traditional knowledge about management of the State’s natural resources and environment.

Madonna has worked extensively for more than 10 years in native title, cultural heritage and natural resource management.  Madonna was instrumental in developing a regional engagement framework, in consultation with the Traditional Owner groups of South East Queensland. The engagement framework guided government and community engagement with Traditional Owner groups for seven years, creating a more effective process and mechanism for meaningful engagement, based on community principles.

Madonna has presented at numerous international, national and state conferences on Indigenous engagement and governance in native title, cultural heritage and natural resource management.  Madonna is a recipient of the Queensland inaugural Indigenous Leaders awards and one of only 100 individuals chosen by the Federal Government to participate in the Australian Future Leaders Forum run by the Howard Government in 2006.

For more than seven years, Madonna has been involved in the facilitation of Aboriginal engagement in Natural Resource Management programs at state and national levels. She is adept at the negotiation of Indigenous Land Use Agreements and Cultural Heritage Management Plans/Agreements. Madonna creates and builds corporate and governance models, facilitates organisational capacity building and advises on accountability and business management.

Caroline Bray is the Managing Director of Jagera Daran. She previously held the position of Women’s Health officer for Aboriginal and Island Heath Services and established the first Aboriginal women’s holistic service. Caroline was a pioneer of Aboriginal women’s health, creating specific and tailored services ensuring Aboriginal women of all ages and locations had access to health programs and support.

As a founding Director of Jagera Daran, Caroline started the company with $200 and no fixed assets. She has grown the business in collaboration with the company’s other Director.

Caroline has been involved in Healthy Waterways and natural resource focused organisations, advising on Indigenous Community Engagement and involvement in program delivery and representation.

Caroline has brought great vision and experience in advising on the development of best practice methods in service delivery from a holistic perspective.

James Bonner is a member of the Jagera People and a grand-nephew of the late Senator Neville Bonner. James has managed the coordination and implementation of numerous cultural heritage management plans and agreements on a diverse range of projects for more than six years.  James has extensive experience in negotiating robust and effective native title & cultural heritage processes for inclusion in indigenous land use agreements, compulsory and voluntary cultural heritage plans and agreements. 

James has had more than five years experience on no less than 35 aboriginal archaeological excavations within South East Queensland.  His experience has enabled him to provide effective mentoring and training skills to guide the involvement and participation of Aboriginal Parties when undertaking mitigation and sub-surface investigation.

James has worked with Jagera Daran in developing risk management procedures and protocols to guide cultural heritage assessment, mitigation and post construction management.

James’s position within Jagera Daran requires the identification and management of resources and personnel on small and large-scale projects.

Daniel Jones has had more than four years experience in the area of cultural heritage across a wide variety of project types and landscapes.  These skills and experiences are now being utilised as Project Coordinator for Jagera Daran.  Daniel is studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology at the University of New England.

As Project Coordinator for Jagera Daran, Daniel utilises his skills gained through cultural heritage work done and through the study he is currently undertaking.  Daniel has experience in leading small teams of Traditional Owners on Aboriginal cultural heritage surveys, writing and implementing mitigation strategies such as test pitting processes. Daniel also organises survey teams and coordinates monitoring groups for post mitigation work.

Daniel is experienced in ensuring that the Aboriginal archaeological excavations are conducted according to archaeological standards in order to gain the appropriate information from each test excavation.  Daniel is experienced in preparing cultural heritage mitigation and test pit reports that provide recording of Aboriginal archaeological excavations to meet client requirements and expectations.

The test pitting process and reporting designed and implemented by Jagera Daran are conducted up to the archaeological and aboriginal cultural standards.  This is an important feature to help mitigate large cultural heritage sites and also sub surface sites which may not be visible on the surface.