Erich Barkmeyer

Background

About Erich Barkmeyer

I was born on 2nd May 1964 in Apeldoorn, Netherlands to a West Papuan mother and a Dutch Indonesian father. For those who know of the political situation in the early 1960’s involving West Papua, the Netherlands, the United States, Russia and the United Nations, you will have some appreciation of how I came to be born in the Netherlands. In 1970, my mother and father decided to move to Australia. My early life was spent in Inala, Brisbane and upon graduating from high school I moved to Townsville to pursue academic studies and a career in community welfare and education. In I moved back to south east Queensland and now live in Ipswich. Much of my working life has been spent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the north, far north and gulf country of Queensland. I have worked primarily in the fields of education, housing and community development. For the past 10 years, I have worked as a Project Officer in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Unit of Diabetes Queensland.