After a meeting that was held 8 October, colleagues of Tess Allas were informed that the reason for the cessation of Tess’ employment is due to a restructuring issue, rather than a budget issue. As a result, they would like to ask that you petition MEGAN DAVIS (Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous of UNSW) and IAN JACOBS (President and Vice-Chancellor of UNSW) against the removal of Tess, and petition ROSS HARLEY (Dean of UNSW Art and Design) to advocate on Tess’ behalf.
The proposed redundancy of Tess comes at a time when she is more needed than ever. Recent changes, budget cuts and instability at Nura Gili Centre at the Kensington campus as well as the shockingly low employment of Indigenous (and, further CALD) staff at UNSW marks this as a part of a larger, ongoing issue at an institutional level that needs to be remedied rather than exacerbated. Diverse staff are crucial to not only the education of students but further, to their well-being. Tess remains one of the few staff members that Indigenous, CALD and other marginalised students feel they can turn to and rely on.
As well as her role as a mentor, Tess is also professionally and pedagogically a boon to the institution. Her course Aboriginal Art Now has influenced countless students and has led many to pursue further and higher research – academically, curatorially and artistically – in a more considered and critically rigorous way. In addition, Aboriginal Art Now remains one of the few Indigenous art courses available at UNSW Art & Design. She has also been instrumentally involved in a vast number of exhibitions in the Indigenous arts community in the last 30 years. The volumes of academic, artistic and curatorial output of Tess evidences her prolific reach and influence in the arts sector. As Associate Professor David Garneau suggested, her contribution to the arts sector deserves an honorary doctorate. Her removal would constitute a massive loss to the UNSW community, and the wider ripple on effects of this would be unimaginable.
As well as her contribution as outlined in this petition, Tess was (with Canada’s David Garnaut) the curator for With Secrecy and Despatch, the 2016 groundbreaking exhibition on the Appin massacre at Campbelltown.