Emeritus Professor Simon Forrest is a Wadjuk Ballardong Nyoongar with kin connections to Badimia and Wongutha peoples. He trained as a teacher in his early years and taught primary school students in several different settings in Western Australia, including remote Aboriginal communities, small rural towns, and regional cities. He has also worked in the public sector in senior positions in Aboriginal education and curriculum and Indigenous affairs policy and implementation.
Emeritus Professor Forrest is WA’s most established Aboriginal academic commencing in 1983 as a lecturer at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education (now Edith Cowan University). He was then appointed as the Inaugural Head of Kurongkurl Katijin School of Indigenous Australian Studies at ECU in 1995 and in 2010 as the Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University. Emeritus Professor Forrest was appointed as Curtin University’s inaugural Elder in Residence in 2014 and he has taught at other universities in Australia, the United States, Canada, Scotland, Germany, and Malaysia. He retired in December 2019 and in recognition of his contributions to reconciliation, leadership and teaching of Aboriginal studies and Aboriginal education at Curtin University, Western Australian and internationally he was awarded a Curtin University Fellow and Emeritus Professor status.
His services are widely sought particularly as a presenter in the areas of Aboriginal Culture, Aboriginal Education, History and Politics, Reconciliation, Cultural Awareness and Competency reflecting his extensive experience in leading, managing and working in these fields. He currently serves on the boards of Curtin Academy and the Institute of Indigenous Well Being and Sport.