Wayne Bergmann is Executive Director of the Kimberley Land Council, one of Australia’s leading organisations dealing with Aboriginal land rights and resource development issues.

Negotiations for the development of multi-billion dollar gas reserves off the Kimberley coastline put the region and its people at the pinnacle of the resources boom.

As the peak body representing Indigenous people in the region, the Kimberley Land Council and Mr. Bergmann are playing a crucial role in determining how development will proceed.

In between mining giants, state and federal governments and environment groups, the Kimberley Land Council is fighting to ensure any development delivers long-term opportunities and benefits for Indigenous communities, while at the same time respecting and protecting cultural and environmental values.

Mr. Bergmann has Nykina, Nyul Nyul, Greek and Sri Lankan ancestry, and grew up near Derby in the Kimberley region of Australia. He has a strong community background and worked in the region as a qualified boilermaker and contractor, and as Executive Director of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, before studying formal law in Perth.  He worked in Chambers and private practice in Perth, before returning to the Kimberley to take up the position with the Kimberley Land Council (KLC).

Mr Bergmann has been Executive Director of the KLC since 2001.  During that time, the KLC has assisted Aboriginal Traditional Owners gain native title determinations covering more than 210,000 square kilometers (+45%) of Kimberley country. Mr Bergmann has also overseen the successful negotiation of a number of significant agreements between resource developers and Traditional Owners across the Kimberley.  This includes major agreements with one of the world’s largest diamond producers, Argyle Diamond Mines, Tanami Gold and Aztec Resources. 

Central to each of these agreements has been the securing of real and ongoing benefits to Indigenous people, in terms of employment and business opportunities, community development, land, and investment in the future.

Mr Bergmann is married with three young children, and lives in Broome.