Founder Bio

Jayne is a Baramadagal woman of the Dharug-speaking peoples (now known as the Sydney Basin Area, Australia) through the Reid/Goldspink bloodline, with kinship connections to Wiradjuri Country. Jayne has European heritages including; Danish (Christiansen), Irish (Kelly, Clyde, Orr), Scottish (Stewart Clan) and English (Goode, Perfect).

Jayne's  formal education is in law and arts (political science and sociology). Jayne spent almost 20 years working in the courts and legal sector. Jayne is a trained mediator and is admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW. Jayne possesses a strong sense of social justice, which saw her dedicate a decade of her legal career practicing as a lawyer in the family, care and civil law jurisdictions in both metropolitan and regional and remote communities.

Jayne is a strong advocate for reforms to Federal racial discrimination laws, State anti-discrimination laws, and the implementation of a positive duty on employers to provide staff with workplaces free of racism and discrimination. Jayne also advocates for reforms to Aged Care and National Disability Insurance Scheme systems that increasingly disadvantage older people, especially those not adequately supported living with conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease which is non-curable, debilitating  and with a diagnosis rate that has increased 250% in the last thirty years. 

Jayne enjoys the practices of weaving and bush-dying in the communities she belongs and has hosted many weaving circles to facilitate dialogue focused on decolonisation both at home and overseas. Jayne works on public art collaborations and commissions with the intent to foreground narratives of First Nations Sovereignty. 

Jayne was the first Baramadagal person to act as Chair of the Parramatta First Nations Advisory Committee and the Dharug Keeping Place Reference Group between 2022 - 2024, and was an inaugural participant in the Galang Residency offered by Powerhouse Museum Parramatta and the Cité Internationale Des Arts in 2023.

Jayne is a ministerial appointee to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee (ACHAC), Heritage NSW, and works with the Treaty Council Worldwide, Allodial Land Use Register (ALUR), Baramadagal Darug Tribal Governing Council and holds various other advisory roles.

Aunty Jules is Jayne's Mum. There is no Jayne without Jules, who is the heart of the work done by Barabirang, offering continuous cultural guidance and ancestral knowledge. Her wisdom, love of weaving and lived connection to Country inspire every aspect of our nation-building and community healing work.