A Balanggarra woman from the East Kimberley and descendant of Captain William Bligh, Elle Davidson (pictured with her parents above) describes herself as being caught in the cross-winds of Australia’s history. With a passion to empower the voices of First People, Elle combines her Town Planning and Indigenous Engagement qualifications to navigate between two worlds. She understands the importance of deep listening and building a strong platform of trust for working together with the community. Elle uses her planning and engagement skills to facilitate a co-design process that leads to culturally informed outcomes. Ultimately she aims to create a space for reviving and enabling culture to exist in a contemporary society.

Growing up in Northern NSW with environmentally aware and culturally strong parents, including a stepfather who was a former Byron Shire councillor, Elle knew that she wanted to dedicate her career to sustainable outcomes. She studied a Bachelor of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Queensland and completed an honours thesis focused on the impact of western planning on Aboriginal communities.

Elle worked with various Local Governments for seven years building experience in development assessment, strategic planning and policy, urban design and engagement. To diversify her skill set and focus on community outcomes, Elle then moved into a stakeholder engagement and social sustainability role in a large consulting firm. She was then offered the opportunity to develop and implement two Reconciliation Action Plans to outline how the organisation could contribute to reconciliation through their projects and operations. Within the organisation, Elle created an Indigenous Engagement service offering to clients, which then led to her winning and leading a variety of projects.

In 2020, Elle started a new role as an Aboriginal Planning Lecturer at the University of Sydney with the School of Architecture, Design and Planning. This has provided an exciting opportunity to educate future practitioners to help design and shape our places and spaces ensuring they are informed about cultural considerations. She will also be undertaking a PhD, focused on developing a toolkit for First Peoples community planning and design.