Cirrus@Austlit

Jackie Huggins was awarded the Queensland Premier's Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs in 2000, and became a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the Indigenous community in 2001. These awards highlight her passionate and continuing dedication to the causes of reconciliation, social justice, literacy and women's issues within Indigenous communities.

As Deputy Director of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland, Huggins brings a wide experience to her teaching and research. She has been involved in many community, government and educational organisations at local, state and national levels, ranging from reconciliation and Aboriginal welfare forums to continuing appointments on editorial and performing arts boards. A leading Indigenous academic, Huggins is known internationally for her work as an author, historian and activist. The University of Queensland honoured this work in 2006 by awarding Huggins an honorary doctorate and in 2007 she was named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year.

Huggins has also been Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at The University of Queensland, spokesperson for the Recognise campaign, co-chair of Reconciliation Australia, chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council, a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and the AIATSIS Council, and co-commissioner for Queensland for the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children.

Huggins has written widely on issues of concern to Indigenous communities, including challenging articles on the relationship between Indigenous women and feminism. In 1993 she was commissioned to write a play for the then Contact Youth Theatre (Aboriginal Program). Entitled 'Maarkkings', a story about history, adaptation and survival, the play was performed in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark) and other parts of Europe. The theatre company has evolved into the very successful Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts organisation which brings Indigenous issues to mainstream theatres and schools. Huggins remains on the board of Kooemba Jdarra.

The highly regarded auto/biography of her mother, Auntie Rita (1994), which she co-authored with Rita Cynthia Huggins, was published in 1994. A collection or her political writings, Sister Girl, appeared in 1998.

Jackie Huggins was conferred an honorary degree of Doctor at Central Queensland University in 2017.