ABOUT US
Who We Are
Reconciliation Tasmania is the state reconciliation council for Tasmania, and a member of the Australian Reconciliation Network led by Reconciliation Australia. We promote a deeper understanding, respect and justice for, and with, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We build relationships across the Tasmanian community, facilitate education opportunities for all and collaborate closely with Tasmanian Aboriginal communities to celebrate history and culture and work to close the gap of disadvantage.
We are a not-for-profit social enterprise deriving operational funding from consultancy services, with project funding sourced through grant programs, funding bodies and philanthropic endeavour.
Our People
The Board of Reconciliation Tasmania reflects our independence, neutrality, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal membership as well as representation from three main regions – the northwest, north and south of the island.
Board Co-Chairs: Clair Andersen and Beth Gilligan.
Board members: Bonnie Bonneville, Simon Cook, Georgie Crockett, and Simon Gates.
Chief Executive Officer: Pauline Cook.
Staff: Reconciliation Tasmania runs with lean staffing numbers across the state. We have an office in Hobart on the Sandy Bay Campus of UTAS and operate with a CEO and two part-time staff.
Members and volunteers: Everything RT achieves is a result of the dedication and passion of our active members and volunteers.
Reconciliation Tasmania – 2025 Board
Co-Chair Clair Andersen
Clair has Yanuwa and Gunggalida clan connections in the Gulf country of Northern Australia.
She grew up and began her education on Warumunga country in the Northern Territory before coming to Tasmania to completed high school and attend University.
Clair has worked in high schools, Adult Education, TAFE and university and has been actively involved in Aboriginal education for more than 30 years.
Currently, Clair is the Aboriginal Higher Education Advisor at the University of Tasmania.
More recently, her work has focused on building the cultural capacity of all graduates through the inclusion of Indigenous Australian content within teaching programs at UTAS.
Co-Chair Beth Gilligan
Beth was elected to the Board of Reconciliation Tasmania in November 2022. She is a passionate advocate for social justice and achieving right relationships between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people.
After growing up in NSW’s Hunter Valley, on the lands of the Wonnarua people, she graduated from Macquarie University and the University of Technology Sydney. She moved to Hobart with her family in 2009 to become Principal of Dominic College where she spent 13 years. Beth worked with her school community to develop its first Narragunnawali Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). She continues to work as an independent education consultant focused on governance evaluation and improvement, human resource development and program reviews.
Photograph: Jillian Mundy
Georgie Crockett
Georgie has a breadth of experience spanning restaurant management, banking, and quality management within the not-for profit sector.
Georgie is an experienced foster carer (over 15 years) with a passion for child safety and a strong social conscience. She has been noted for her ability to focus on blue sky possibilities as well as operational processes and detail. Her work in foster care and diversity matters has fueled an enthusiasm for social justice and equality and she takes pride in achieving practical outcomes.
Outside of work Georgie enjoys walking and exploring this beautiful place that is Lutruwita.
Bonnie Bonneville
Bonnie has been a dedicated member of Reconciliation Tasmania since 2018 and was elected to the Board in November 2021. She is passionate about achieving justice for Aboriginal People in Tasmania within our lifetime and protecting the natural and cultural values of our beautiful environment. Bonnie is non-indigenous.
Bonnie and her family live in pataway/Burnie. As a professional environmental scientist, she works as the Regional NRM Manager at Cradle Coast Authority, where she oversees various environmental projects and initiatives. Bonnie is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Bonnie represents the North-West region on the Board and has facilitated the North West RT Members meetings and the 2025 NRW Breakfast in pataway/Burnie.
Simon Cook
Simon is the Sustainability Manager for Forico, the largest private forest manager in Tasmania. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and has over 25 years forestry experience in the UK, NZ, and Australia. Forico launched their RAP in early 2021 at Simon’s initiative, and he has been instrumental in delivering the plan, advancing the company’s reconciliation journey.
Simon is a passionate Forester and believes it is essential that we engage with and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) communities.
Simon strongly believes that we can promote reconciliation through acknowledgement and implementation of traditional land management practices. Simon is also committed to establishing and strengthening relationships with ATSI stakeholders and improving employment outcomes for recruitment, retention, and professional development.
Simon Gates
Before entering the legal profession, Simon lived and worked in Timor-Leste in 2005 and 2006, working initially as an Australian Volunteers International funded volunteer for the Timor-Leste Government, then after civil unrest in 2006, he worked for Plan International coordinating the provision of humanitarian aid.
In Trouwunna/lutruwita (Tasmania) he was Crown Counsel for the Tasmanian Solicitor-General’s Office before working as a Senior Legal Advisor for the State Attorney-General. Prior to becoming a barrister with the Tasmanian Independent Bar, he was a partner of law firm, McLean, McKenzie and Topfer Barristers and Solicitors.
His exposure to the work Reconciliation Tasmania began with attendance at Come Walk With Us cultural awareness training events hosted by RT as part of the Tasmanian Leaders Program and through the Law Society of Tasmania’s process towards enacting a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
He also volunteered for RT as a facilitator for Understanding the Referendum workshops held in Northwest Tasmania, the experience highlighted the gaps in knowledge of the true history and treatment of First Nations people in the state. He believes reconciliation and truth-telling is vital for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmanians to move forward collectively, while respecting the sovereignty and history of Aboriginal people.
Pauline Cook
Pauline Cook has been active in campaigning for Aboriginal cultural and legal rights and social justice outcomes since her university student years, as a volunteer with the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in Adelaide.
With a degree in anthropology and postgraduate research in this field, Pauline spent several decades living in and working with remote and regional First Nations communities to support land rights processes and other self-determining initiatives. This also informed her fierce commitment to driving change through place-based, ground-up responses with community showing the way forward.
She has extensive experience in not-for-profit sector management and believes that relationships based on respect and reciprocity are at the core of all genuine engagements.
Pauline is committed to challenging the status quo through working with Tasmanian Aboriginal people and the wider community in the pursuit of truth, reparation, and the systemic changes needed to build a more just and equitable society.
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