Sharon Gollan has strong affinity with and is an active community member of the Ngarrindjeri group in South Australia. She has over twenty years of experience in the public sector in a range of community and management positions that primarily focussed on creating better services for Aboriginal people.

Sharon became a Program Director in The Unaipon School, College of Indigenous Education and Research, University of South Australia since 2006, having been a Lecturer since 2001. She contributes to the education of graduate and post-graduate social work, nursing, teaching and psychology students by supporting them to develop culturally accountable practice when working with Aboriginal clients, colleagues and communities.

In addition Sharon practices as a Cultural Adviser and Trainer in her own consultancy business, which she established in 1999. She provides cultural advice to local government, government and non-government agencies, community organisations, universities and private clients in metropolitan and rural South Australia, as well as interstate locations.

Sharon is well known for her training workshops that assist non-Indigenous human services workers to understand the dimensions of racism, their cultural identity, the meaning of 'whiteness' and how to challenge racism in order to develop respectful service responses in working with Aboriginal people, agencies and communities.

A strong commitment to developing and nurturing 'black-white partnerships' is present in Sharon's teaching, consulting, evaluation and research work, and she is currently researching the principles and practices involved in black-white partnerships. She frequently invites Kathleen Stacey to work with her in a black-white partnership, and they have collaborated on a variety of training, consulting and research projects since 1999. Her direct contact is:
sharon.gollan@unisa.edu.au