Stori and sovereignty: Marking the 50th Anniversary of Papua New Guinean Independence
AAPS is delighted to announce “Stori and Sovereignty”, one of our keynote panels for the Pacific Discourses and Destinies AAPS 2025 biennial conference at the University of Sydney, 3-6 June 2025. To attend this event, register here via the USYD conference webpage.
Stori and sovereignty: Marking the 50th Anniversary of Papua New Guinean Independence
A keynote panel with Tetei Bakic, Dr Mercy Masta, Mahealani Delaney, Wendy Mocke and a response from Dame Meg Taylor.
In September 2025, Papua New Guinea will mark the 50th anniversary of its independence from the Australian colonial administration. The anniversary offers a powerful opportunity to reflect on the history of Papua New Guinea and the PNG- Australia relationship, including critique of Australia’s historical and contemporary interactions with PNG. This keynote panel brings together four powerful Papua New Guinean women, active in different spaces of creative, political, community, and academic life, to explore the stori of Papua New Guinean sovereignty—past present and future.
Tetei Bakic is Papuan of Gaire and Korobosea Villages in Central Province; Aboriginal of Bindal, Kaanju and Juru Nations; Torres Strait Islander of Mer & Erub Islands; and Serbian. Tetei works in the Centre of Critical Indigenous Studies, Wallumattagal Campus (Macquarie University) as the Centre Coordinator alongside staunch Indigenous academics and scholars. She has completed her Master of Research thesis, titled “Taubada, oi hereva momo: We are busy reclaiming revareva” challenging the predominant narrative written by non-Papuan researchers, which often exoticises and harmfully misrepresents Papuan cultures. Her research prioritises Indigenous knowledges to identify and rectify misinformation about Papua New Guinea in academic literature. As a descendant of Gaire & Korobosea Villages in Central Province, Tetei shares personal experiences of revareva, including those of her grandmother and great-grandmothers. Her work aims to counter existing narratives and highlight the contemporary continuation of traditional skin marking practices, contributing to the reclamation of Papuan cultural heritage.
Dr Mercy Masta hails from Papua New Guinea and West Papua. She is a Research Fellow with the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. Her current research focuses on Pacific Island masculinities and initiatives to engage men and boys in violence prevention in the region. Mercy has extensive experience in the aid and development sector in PNG and the Pacific, particularly in health systems strengthening, youth development, women’s leadership, violence prevention, and peacebuilding. She also serves as a GEDSI and Safeguards advisor to the Australia Awards Women Leading and Influencing Program and is on the Board of Equal Playing Field, a PNG-based NGO that promotes respectful relationships among children and youth through sports. Recently, Mercy was appointed as the co-Vice President of the Pacific Islands Political Science Association.
Mahealani Delaney is a Papua New Guinean-European who has grown up as part of the Pacific diaspora in Australia, currently living and working on unceded Gadigal country. She works as the Pacific Community Engagement Coordinator at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and joined after working at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions on climate communications and research projects. Mahealani completed her Master of Environmental Management & Development at ANU and is passionate about putting social justice at the core of the environmental movement. Her hope is to be able to serve Pacific communities and the lands and oceans that they are a part of through this work.
Wendy Mocke is a Papua New Guinean inter-disciplinary storyteller. She is a NIDA Acting graduate and has performed across stages in Australia and appeared in films and television. Wendy co-wrote (with Lewis Treston) an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which premiered at Queensland Theatre (QT) in 2025 and in 2024, she wrote The Scene Project: Flowers in Antarctica, for QT’s Education Season. Wendy won the 2024 Patrick White Playwright’s Award for her play, REALish. The play was also a finalist for Best New Play in in the Australian Theatre Festival NYC Awards and had a reading at MTC as a part of the Cyber Electric program in 2023. Wendy received a 2023 Malcom Robertson Foundation Commission for a new play, Kirk’s Backyard (My First Caucasion Play). She won the 2023 Griffin Award for new Australian playwriting for her play I am Kegu and was a playwriting Fellow at QT in the same year. I am Kegu was also shortlisted for the 2022 Patrick White Playwright’s Award. Wendy was a member of the Emerging Writers Group at Sydney Theatre Company in 2020/2021 and was a Playwrighting Fellow at Queensland Theatre. She has completed writing residencies at Griffin Theatre Company and Darlinghurst Theatre where she developed her stage plays Jalbu Meri (which will premiere in 2025 at KXT) and REALish. Wendy’s web series, Bad Ancestors, was produced as a part of ABC’s Fresh Blood initiative in 2024 and it was nominated for best Web Series at the 2025 AACTA Awards. She co-wrote an episode of the ABC comedy Gold Diggers (CBS Studios / The Alliance) which was nominated for Best TV Comedy Script at the 2025 AWG Awards. Wendy’s visual art’s project m e r i, a collection of photographs and stories that focuses on the recontextualising of contemporary PNG women, was exhibited at North Site Contemporary Arts Gallery (Cairns) and Brisbane Powerhouse. One of Wendy‘s quests as a writer and artist is to make alive what is quiet and asleep in Melanesian stories and unpack the myriad of layers that is Black Pacific Islander identity.