Helen Laidlaw

Helen Laidlaw was born in Australia to an English father and a fifth-generation Australian mother, whose ancestor farmed Wadi Wadi country in 1837. Helen has worked as a teacher, teacher-librarian and university librarian. Her qualifications were earned at Wagga Wagga Teachers’ College, a BA at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji and a Grad Dip Lib at the University of Tasmania. She has also worked in Tonga, writing the Museum Guide and computerising libraries. She is passionate about Pacific and Indigenous history. Her other interests include the custodianship of an area of rare subtropical rainforest, playing tennis and swimming. She works to gain better treatment for the refugees who come to Australia and for the ratification of a treaty with the First Nations as outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.