An annual community event to celebrate and reimagine Nancy Hillier’s legacy and to invite community engagement with impactful environmental advocacy and activism.
The evening will feature an intergenerational panel discussion, highlighting how women from different generations have approached environmental issues with boldness and creativity. Through storytelling and shared experiences, we’ll explore the challenges and successes of their work. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in an interactive mapping activity, connecting with each other while celebrating the legacy and future of community-driven leadership.
Come along for a night of networking, inspiration, and embracing the "ratbag" spirit—celebrating those who speak up, push boundaries, and drive meaningful progress for our communities and environment. This annual lecture series honours Nancy Hillier OAM, a fearless advocate who fought tirelessly for environmental and social justice in Sydney’s Botany Bay.
Hosted in partnership with Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA), Bayside Council and the Environment and Society Group at UNSW, this event celebrates the fearless women who challenge the status quo in pursuit of environmental progress. Honouring Nancy Hillier's remarkable legacy as an advocate for Sydney's Botany Bay area, this annual lecture brings together community members, environmental leaders, and changemakers to reflect on and reimagine impactful activism.
Panellists:
Panel Chair: Prof Tema Milstein (UNSW)
Produced by: Dr Tania Leimbach (UNSW), Dr John Carr (UNSW), and Carli Leimbach (WELA).
Migrating to Australia in 1975, I am deeply grateful for my love of family, voluntary work and community. Formerly a Registered Nurse, Local Government Councillor/Mayor, Chair Groundswell Gloucester, The Sunrise Project Board Director and Greens Federal candidate, I’m now a passionate Chair of WELA (Women's Environmental Leadership Australia), Green Institute Board Director and Social Impacts Alliance NSW member.
Since co-founding Gloucester Environment Group in 1989, I've been a committed activist for climate, social justice issues and educating politicians. Getting arrested is on the cards. Groundswell Gloucester, with hundreds of people, stopped AGL's gasfield, the Rocky Hill coal mine, and won a significant climate judgment. It always takes a team.
As the founder of Eco Styles, Nina Gbor is a sustainable fashion educator, international speaker, researcher, clothes swap maven and eco-stylist. Eco Styles engages with media, councils, organisations, schools, community groups and individuals to develop strategies for systems change towards a holistic circular and sustainable fashion future.
Nina Gbor is the Director of the Circular Economy & Waste Program at The Australia Institute. She was featured in season 3 of ABC TV's award-winning environmental series, War on Waste. Nina has a master’s degree in international development and guest lectures at universities in Australia and abroad.
Hola! My name is Valentina, originally from Santiago de Chile and now thriving in Sydney! My journey into environmental advocacy started in a lab, exploring the fascinating connections between waterways and wider ecosystems. This curiosity inspired me to volunteer in sustainability projects across different cultures, deepening my understanding of the crucial role that collective wisdom and diverse knowledge systems play.
I find inspiration in the power of community and collaboration to drive meaningful change. Each interaction, whether it’s taking care of oneself, nurturing a garden, or participating in local initiatives, ignites my dedication and commitment! I enjoy co-creating small, embodied actions in our daily lives to cultivate a culture of re-generation and spirit by re-connecting, re-membering, and re-learning with people and places we love and care for.
Maria Poulos is a dedicated community advocate with extensive experience in conservation, animal welfare, crisis management, and diplomacy. Since 2021, she has served as the Parliamentary and Political Relations Manager for the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
Prior to her work with ACF, Maria spent 23 years as an Australian diplomat, holding various roles across the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and the European Union. She is the founder and convenor of the Save the Bay Coalition, which successfully campaigned against a cruise terminal in Botany Bay and continues to advocate for biodiversity conservation and heritage protection in Sydney.
Maria also serves as a Director of Diplomats for Climate and recently ran as a candidate in the local government elections with the residents’ action party, Peaceful Bayside. She holds a Master of Diplomacy and Trade from Monash University and a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Tema Milstein is Professor of Environment & Society at University of New South Wales. She is an internationally recognised leader in environmental communication, a transdisciplinary field that understands communication as having far-reaching effects at a time of human-generated environmental crises. Her co-edited books include the Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity (2020) and Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice (2017). She is co-lead of (Daily) Delight~Disrupt, a co-generated global movement to ignite everyday ecocentric transformation (affiliated with Massive Change Network), which you are warmly invited to take up as a co-creator!
Nancy Hillier is known throughout Botany and further afield, for her tireless activism and commitment to local environmental issues. Her campaigning began with protests about ICI’s (later Orica’s) groundwater contamination and chlorine leaks and continued during the expansion of Sydney Airport and Port Botany. She was passionate about reducing industry’s impact on the environment and local community, and earned the moniker ‘the Ratbag of Botany.’
A natural organiser, Nancy always led from the front, which did not go unrecognized. Named 1985 Botany Council citizen of the year, she worked tirelessly in her community, often challenging industry and governments at the highest levels. She received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2006.
Nancy was also tireless in assisting academics and students, many from UNSW, in their research and teaching projects. She also co-authored academic analysis, and wrote many reports, submissions and other public documents. Her own extensive archive is held by Bayside's local Library.
This lecture series acknowledges Nancy’s heritage, recalling her work and passion while providing an avenue for others to debate issues that resonate with Nancy’s work. Over several years, the annual event has helped to forge scholarly and broader community relationships and commitments, and is growing and expanding it’s reach and impact every year.
