Gaja Kerry Charlton

Gaja / Aunty Kerry Charlton is an Elder, cultural custodian and Traditional Owner in three native title claims Quandamooka, Kabi Kabi and Yugger Ugarabul Peoples. Her tribes include Gerrgum of Magandjin/Brisbane, Koenpul and Jandaval tribes of Tjerrangerri and Moojeen from Yagara (Yuggera) Country and Ngunda of Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi). She has ties to the Gulf in North Queensland. Gaja Kerry grew up between the coastal mainland and Tjerrangerri (Stradbroke Island) in a big extended family saturated in lingo, culture and history. Gaja Kerry's career spans community development, teaching, reconciliation, cultural education and project and executive management roles and Board membership at all levels. Her decades of language repatriation and revival work established the WularaNguru Historical Language Mapping project and production of “An Introduction to the languages of Moreton Bay … ” Handbook in 2019. She did part-time Language Fellowship at UQ (2022 - 2024) and completed a Dip Linguistics and Languages at CDU this year. Gaja Kerry is a founding member of the Yagara Magandjin Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC). Her work appears in Meanjin Papers Winter edition 2023, and 2024 Twenty Essays that Changed Australia, 1940 to today, 2025 Summer edition. Late 2023, came a full podcast series titled Bloodlines to Country which has won 2 national media awards.