Priscilla "Cilla" Atkins, (formerly Collins) is a prominent Aboriginal leader, advocate and television producer. Atkins was the Chief Executive Officer of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), the largest law firm in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Priscilla Atkins | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Priscilla Collins |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Chief Executive Officer of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency |
Early life
editPriscilla Atkins, formerly Priscilla Collins and known as "Cilla", is an Eastern Arrernte woman[1] of Arabana descent in South Australia and grew up in Alice Springs in Central Australia,[2] the eldest of five children and is a descendant of Topsy Smith (née White) the daughter of Mary Kemp (Arabana) and George White, a Policeman. Topsy Smith was the mother to daughter Ada Mary Wade.[3]
Career
editAtkins is an outspoken advocate on issues affecting Aboriginal people across the Northern Territory, including the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in prison, overcrowding and homelessness and problems in the Northern Territory Government’s mismanagement of remote public housing.[4]
Atkins was the Chief Executive Officer of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal service, which is also the largest law firm in the Northern Territory.
Atkins was awarded the Telstra Business Woman’s Award for Community and Government in 2011.[5]
She is a non-member director of the Danila Dilba Health Service. She was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), Australia’s largest Aboriginal media organisation. Atkins was heavily involved of the establishment of National Indigenous Television, Australia’s first Indigenous television station.[3] She has been on the Boards of Indigenous Business Australia, Imparja Television, National Indigenous Television Service and Indigenous Screen Australia, MusicNT and Chairperson of the Australian Indigenous Communications Association.
Atkins has produced television documentaries for SBS and ABC Television. When her children commented that her documentaries were 'boring' she decided to make a children's television show.[3] She was the executive producer and creator of Double Trouble, the first Indigenous children’s television series produced for a commercial network, Channel Nine and Disney. Double Trouble was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award in 2008 for Best Children’s Drama.[6]
Personal life
editAtkins has ten children.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b "Cilla Atkins". Satellite Dreaming Revisited. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ "2015 Indigenous Women's Conference Speakers". Indigenous Conference Services. ICS-M.E.E.S PTY LTD. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ a b c O'Toole, Kate; Tetlow, Miranda (3 November 2011). "Guestroom - Priscilla Collins". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Radio Darwin. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ "Aboriginal homelessness and overcrowding in housing at appalling rates - CEO NAAJA Priscilla Collins". Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ "Territory's Top Businesswomen Awarded" (PDF). Territory Stories. Northern Territory Library. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ "Priscilla Collins". IMDb. Retrieved 1 August 2021.