About Aunty Pat
Aunty Pat Williams is a Gooreng Gooreng Elder whose life has been shaped by a deep commitment to children, families and community. Gooreng Gooreng Country takes in Bundaberg, Gin Gin and Miriam Vale, runs south towards Childers and reaches inland to Monto and Mount Perry.
With connections to Bundaberg and Gin Gin, Aunty Pat spent part of her childhood at Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton, where she was placed with two of her siblings. Neerkol was formally known as St Joseph’s Home and was run by the Sisters of Mercy. Their mother continued to visit them during this time. Aunty Pat later married at 17 and became the mother of three children.
Her own experiences helped inspire her desire to support other children. She completed teacher aide training through TAFE before undertaking university studies in teaching. Her career included working at Brisbane School of Distance Education as a Community Education Counsellor, as well as counselling and providing family support in detention centres and prisons.
Her connection with schools continues. Aunty Pat was one of three First Nations Elders, with Aunty Peggy Tidyman and Uncle Troy Thompson, consulted on the design of a Yarning Circle and Outdoor Learning Area at Coorparoo Secondary College in Brisbane. The design is grounded in the elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth, and the project won the 2024 AILA Queensland Award of Excellence for Health and Education Landscape.
Aunty Pat has also been a longstanding advocate for organ donation. When her brother Ross Munro died, she and her brother Billy agreed to donate his organs. “We said yes because we knew it was our brother’s wishes,” she said. The family has since received letters from the people Ross’s gift helped, and Billy wrote a poem, “A Gift of Life,” in his memory.
You can read their story, including Billy’s poem, on the DonateLife website: Ross became an organ donor. In June 2024 Aunty Pat gave the Welcome to Country at the DonateLife Queensland 32nd Service of Remembrance in Brisbane, and the Governor of Queensland thanked her publicly.
Although now retired, Aunty Pat continues to visit schools and support her mob, sharing her knowledge and experience with younger generations.
On Sunday 22 November 2026, she will join Uncle Bill Lemson as his guest at the Yarning Circle at St John’s Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane. There, she will share stories from her life and her work with children, families and community.
Uncle Bill’s Yarning Circles exist for connection. They bring accomplished First Nations people, and friends who walk beside them, into the circle to share the arc of their own story, personal, professional, and public, so that non-Indigenous members of the community can know them person to person. You are welcome to join them.
Sources: DonateLife; Government House Queensland; Landscape Australia. Photographs supplied.
RSVP for the 22 November Yarning Circle
A quick RSVP helps me set the seats and the morning tea for the right number of people.
I’ll send you a confirmation email once you’ve replied.
on the day
Sunday 22 November 2026
Arrive from 11 am
for an 11.15 am start
Darnell Room, St John’s Cathedral
373 Ann Street, Brisbane
Morning tea afterwards. Bring a plate to share if you would like to, and if it is just yourself, that is exactly right too.
Uncle Bill Lemson
+ Add to my calendar Google Calendar