Jill Gallagher

In January 2018 Gallagher took 18 months leave of absence from VACCHO when she was appointed Commissioner of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission. The commission was set up to create an Aboriginal representative body to establish rules for future treaty negotiations with the Victorian Government. The commission will be wound up once the representative body is formed.

In 2009 Gallagher was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer which had spread to her liver and diaphragm. She had two surgeries and chemotherapy and has used her experience to promote cancer awareness in the Aboriginal community.

As CEO of VACCHO Gallagher obtained bi-partisan support from the Victorian Government for the statement of intent to close the 17 year life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The statement was signed in 2008 by Victorian Premier John Brumby. She lists this as one of her most significant achievements as CEO of VACCHO.

In 1998 Gallagher took a position at the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), and in 2001 she became its CEO. She quickly recognised tobacco as a major cause of health problems within the Aboriginal community and, in 2008, gave up smoking after 40 years. She actively encouraged VACCO employees and each Aboriginal health organisation in Victoria to develop a stop smoking campaign and to become smoke free. The idea was to provide leadership in aboriginal communities, and reduce the burden on a stretched health services.

In 1963 Gallagher's family moved to Collingwood on Wurundjeri Country, where her mother found work in a box factory. Gallagher graduated from the George Street Primary School after attending 13 different schools, and continued her education at the Fitzroy Girls' School. She was rebellious, clashed with teachers, left school at the age of 14 and ran away from home, living on the streets before returning home and commencing work in a factory.

Jillian Gallagher AO (born 1955) is a Gunditjmara from Australia who has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) since 2001. As a single mother in her twenties Gallagher was accepted into a training scheme for young Aboriginal people at the Museum of Victoria. She worked on the return of the Murray Black Collection and served as manager of the heritage branch of Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (Victoria) before taking up a position at VACCHO in 1998. In 2017 Gallagher was appointed Commissioner of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission until the voting period ended in October 2019. Gallagher was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2009 and the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll in 2015. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2013.

Gallagher was born in 1955, one of 10 children, in the Australian Capital Territory, principally recognised as Ngunnawal Country. Her mother was a Gunditjmara woman and a father of Irish decent. Gallagher's father died in an accident when she was a baby.