Glenda Kickett belongs to the Whadjuk and Ballardong peoples of the Bibbulumun Nyungah nation from the South West of Western Australia through both her mother and father’s family lines. She is a Social Worker, having graduated from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1993; has a Master of Arts from Curtin University in Indigenous Research and Development in 2004; and is in the final stages of completing a PhD in Social Work at UWA, titled ‘Benanginy Dangalang’, Picking Everlastings, A Story to Listen and Learn.

Glenda is the CEO of Karla Kuliny Aboriginal Corporation, and was the Manager, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnership and Engagement at the Australian Childhood Foundation and was previously the manager for Djooraminda for thirteen years, working with and supporting carers to care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in Out of Home Care.  She has worked to support and advocate for Aboriginal children and families in Out-of-Home care, family support and reunification programs within government and non-government organisations for nearly thirty years.  She is also a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Work in the unit, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledges and Worldviews in Social Work learning and practice.

In her work, Glenda has facilitated the co-design of the Out of Home Care Recommissioning for Department of Communities – Child Protection, and the co-design for the Family and Domestic Violence Hub and part of the consortium for the Naala Djookan Healing Centre in Mirrabooka.  She was a member of the reference group for the Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making for the establishment of the pilot sites in Mirrabooka and Geraldton; and the refence group for the 10 Year Road Map with SNAICC and the Department of Communities for child protection and family support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.  She has presented on child protection issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families at the national SNAICC conferences and Child Welfare conferences, and internally at the International Indigenous Social Workers Conferences in Alta, Norway and Huelien, Taiwan.

As part of the presentation of ‘Galup’ interactive play for the Festival of Perth about the massacre of Whadjuk people which is her great grandmother, Yurellen Fanny Bennell Garlett’s story, and which her mother Doolann Leisha Eatts wrote about in her book “Doolann’.  With her mother and other Whadjuk Elders advocated to the Town of Cambridge for the name of Lake Monger to be change back to the traditional Whadjuk Noongar name ‘Galup’ meaning place of fire which was successful with Council members voting unanimously for the original name to be accepted on Tuesday 28^th May 2023. 

In her capacity as a volunteer, Glenda is the Chairperson of NAIDOC Perth Inc. since 2008 and has been a member of NAIDOC Perth Inc since 2007, and also co-founder of the Miss NAIDOC Perth Empowerment and Leadership Program; a member of the Noongar Family Safety Wellbeing Council; Co-Chair of Social Reinvestment WA, Vice Chairperson of Wungening Aboriginal Corporation, and Chairperson of Shooting Stars, Glass Jar, Australia, education through netball.

Glenda as been recognised with numerous awards including WA Social Worker of the Year Worker (2010) and Richmond Fellowship Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Worker of the Year (2010), and the Grace Vaughn Award 2011; and inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame (2016); and finalist in the WA Day Awards, Aboriginal section 2019 and Australia Day Awards WA, Community Person section (2020); and is a Life Member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (2020).