Mr Padraic Gibson

Padraic (Paddy) Gibson is a Phd candidate in History at the University of Newcastle, being supervised by Professor Victoria Haskins and Dr James Bennett. Paddy's Phd research is examining the relationship between the Australian labour movement and struggles for Aboriginal rights between WWI and WWII, with a particular focus on the Communist Party of Australia.

Paddy graduated from Sydney University in 2005, with Honours in History and has worked as a casual academic at both Sydney University and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Since 2008, Paddy has been working part time as a Senior Researcher at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS under the supervision of Professor Larissa Behrendt. His research at Jumbunna has focussed on Aboriginal struggles for self-determination, particularly in the Northern Territory, where he lived for three years investigating the impact of the "Intervention" policy introduced in 2007. In recent years, Paddy has increasingly worked on the issue of contemporary removal of Indigenous children by Child Protection agencies.

Paddy is an active participant in protest movements for Aboriginal rights and is a co-editor of the Solidarity magazine.