In June 2025, supported by SGS’s sabbatical program, Kasey Bailey took the stage at the 2025 AIATSIS Summit in Garramilla (Darwin) to share a powerful story of economic self-determination, co-developed with Victorian Traditional Owners. Below is Kasey’s reflection of her time up north.

Recently, I had the privilege of using my sabbatical leave to attend the 2025 Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Summit. Escaping the grey of the Victorian winter, I flew four hours to Larrakia Country and arrived in Garramilla to a balmy 30 degrees.

The Summit ran for five days and brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, leaders, and youth alongside Academics, Native Title stakeholders, legal experts, the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector, and government representatives. As the largest conference of its kind, it offered a unique opportunity to listen, learn, and collaborate on the issues that matter most to First Nations peoples, centred around culture, knowledge, governance, and relationship-building. The theme for this year was 'Voices of Empowerment: Strengthening our future,' paying tribute to a world in which First Nations peoples’ rights, knowledge, and voices are recognised, respected, and valued by all Australians today and tomorrow.

I was invited by the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations (The Federation) to present on the work SGS delivered in 2024 – the Victorian Traditional Owner Economic Development Roadmap.

I presented on the second-last day of the Summit and was incredibly nervous, half-heartedly trying to convince myself it was excitement. It wasn’t until 30 minutes before the presentation that I found out we’d be presenting in the main auditorium, with a live stream broadcast across Australia. Had I known this earlier, there would have been no pretending, just pure nerves.

I presented alongside Sophie Raynor at The Federation. We were so focused on delivering the presentation that we didn't expect the response that followed. The audience was incredibly engaged, and we ended up with a line of people waiting to speak with us afterwards. Aboriginal representative bodies were interested in how the work could be translated to other areas of Australia, government representatives were interested in how best to support the work, and everyone was interested in how to bolster their research with economic analysis. I made a number of new connections who were already familiar with SGS’s expertise in this space, and we’ve been able to continue our yarns back in Naarm.