Emeritus Professor Dr Len Collard

Director

• Doctor of Education Honors Causa - Edith Cowan University 
  Emeritus Professor, School of Indigenous Studies - University of Western Australia
• Adjunct Professor at Nulungu Research Institute - University of Notre Dame
• AIATSIS Council elected member

Emeritus Professor Dr Len Collard is a highly respected Whadjuk Nyungar Elder and Traditional Owner of the Perth Metropolitan area and surrounding lands, rivers, swamps, ocean and culture. As Director of Moodjar, he has focused his life’s work on explaining how and why Aboriginal place names continue to provide collective insights into our shared land. After studying literature and communications, Len spent his career recording and reclaiming Aboriginal language and culture. Len conducted several Nyungar language preservation studies as Australian Research Council Chief Investigator at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia, with his primary project, to uncover Nyungar placenames. He created a public database of 25,000 Nyungar words for South-West Australia and the first bilingual Aboriginal Wikipedia.

Len helps corporations, non-profits, federal, state and local governments with heritage and language preservation, Aboriginal interpretive plans, community engagement, statements of significance, Nyungar oral histories, policies, on-country tours, and cultural guidance through Moodjar - to support organisations with real aspirations for reconciliation.

In 2023, Len was acknowledged by Edith Cowan University with an honourary doctorate in Education for his lifetime contribution to education and Indigenous heritage. That same year, UWA appointed Len as Emeritus Professor – the first Aboriginal Emeritus Professor in the institutions’ history. Len was also acknowledged as a WA Nominee Local Hero in the Australia of the Year 2022 awards.