Terri Janke

"My family never had much - they never had a piece of land or a house to pass on, but we had stories and that's when stories become important to hand on. It connects the generations."

Terri Janke is a Wuthathi/Meriam Indigenous author and lawyer. She is considered a leading international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property.

Janke is the Solicitor Director of Terri Janke and Company, her wholly Indigenous-owned legal firm founded in 2000. Terri Janke and Company specialises in Indigenous intellectual property, Indigenous cultural and intellectual property and business law, and is the largest and oldest Indigenous law firm in Australia.

Janke has served on the boards of many Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations and associations, with some of her previous positions including the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (Deputy Chair),Tourism Australia, National Indigenous Television (Chair) and Ngalaya Indigenous Lawyers Association (Chair), as well as at the State Library of NSW. Terri is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and LEADR Mediators.

In 2019, Janke completed a PhD thesis at the Australian National University. In 2011, Janke was named the NAIDOC Indigenous Person of the Year, and was invited by the Prime Minister in April 2008 to be a delegate at the Australia 2020 Summit.