Key points
- The theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week is Next Generation: Strength, Vision, Legacy.
- Dylan Wright is a Project Officer in CSIRO’s Indigenous Engagement team and is leading NAIDOC Week events across CSIRO.
- As part of the Indigenous Engagement team, he's providing advice on how we can better connect with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
Dylan Wright is a proud Kamilaroi man whose journey is rooted in community, shaped by experience, and driven by connection. While he was born in Sydney, he moved to Orange on Wiradjuri Country when he was just a baby, and it's here that he grew up surrounded by rolling hills beneath Mount Canobolas, tree-lined heritage streets, and the layered culture of a regional town.
In his youth, Dylan was typical in many ways - he hung out with mates, played footy, and spent countless hours on the Xbox. Things began to shift in Year 10, when a conversation with the vice principal led to a surprising admission - Dylan said he wanted to be school captain. It caught everyone off guard, but it became a pivotal moment for him. He didn’t end up with the captaincy, but the ambition sparked something deeper - a desire to step up, take responsibility, and find his own path to leadership.
In his final years of school, Dylan became more involved in community initiatives. Through the Indigenous Police Recruitment Our Way Delivery (IPROWD) program, a traineeship that connected young Aboriginal people with the police force, he got his first taste of it.
The program ran for two years in Dubbo where he gained certificates in Government Services and gave him an early glimpse into careers that could serve both people and culture. But even then, Dylan was craving something more. He decided he wanted to gain more life experience, so he enlisted in the Australian Army.
Exploring purpose through service
Dylan joined the army in 2015, signing on as an Artilleryman. He was posted to Darwin, far away from the cool hills of Orange. Darwin felt like another country - hot, humid, and wild in the best way. For Dylan, it was a dream come true. He loved the climate, the openness, and the people.
"It’s like the wild west of Australia," he laughs. “Everyone should visit Darwin at least once.”
His five years in the army were transformative. The military brought discipline, structure, and challenge. He made friends who felt like brothers, and he learned how to navigate uncertainty.
“The army makes you do the job, even if you don’t know how yet,” Dylan says.
That mentality of learning by doing and trusting in yourself became a foundation for how he approaches everything in life. He was promoted early in his service and took pride in supporting his fellow soldiers.
But more than anything, it was the camaraderie that stayed with him. The deep trust, shared hardship, and connection formed out in the field have never left him. To this day, he misses that bond.
Coming home to community
When Dylan finished his service in 2019, he returned home with a new sense of confidence and clarity. He knew he wanted to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to give back, and to stay grounded in culture. He was offered a traineeship at Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS) prior to departure from Army as a Health and Wellbeing Officer.
During his 18 months at OAMS, Dylan completed a Certificate III in Fitness and a Certificate IV in Mental Health. These were major personal milestones, proof that his experience and dedication could be backed by formal qualifications.
But more than the study, it was the work itself that meant the most. At OAMS, Dylan spent his days with Elders, clients, and community members. He started to realise how much he enjoyed just having a yarn and being present.
Whether he was running a program, helping someone through a tough time, or just checking in, it all came down to connection and deep listening. That role reminded Dylan of what he valued most: being with community, supporting others, and helping create safe, welcoming spaces for mob.
Next, Dylan moved into a role as an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO) with the local police in Orange. It was a natural fit drawing on both his army discipline and his community mindedness.
For two years, Dylan worked closely with police officers, building bridges between law enforcement and the local Aboriginal community. The team he worked with was supportive and genuinely committed to positive change.
Dylan developed programs for young people, visited schools and kindergartens, and showed both Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people what a future in policing or community engagement could look like. It wasn’t about ticking boxes, it was about showing up, being visible, and being someone young people could relate to.
But Dylan still felt a pull toward broader impact. He joined the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), taking on a state government role focused on community upskilling. It gave him the opportunity to travel again but this time across New South Wales where he often found himself on long country drives, meeting mob in different towns and learning their stories.
These drives reminded him of the work his dad did, who travelled often for work in his youth, and his grandfather, who worked on the roads out west in the region. There was something grounding about that sense of legacy, of walking paths carved by the generations before him.
“I loved getting out on Country, just driving and yarning,” Dylan says. “It felt like home, even when I was far from it.”
Creating change at CSIRO
When that contract ended, Dylan joined CSIRO as a Project Officer in the Indigenous Engagement team, based at the Parkes Observatory on Wiradjuri Country.
“It felt like a natural next step, an opportunity to keep growing, to keep connecting, and to work at a national level.”
At CSIRO, Dylan’s role supports the delivery of the organisation’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and broader Indigenous Science and Engagement commitments.
He’s leading National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week events across CSIRO and providing advice on how we can better connect with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
He also provides advice across the organisation on the best ways to approach engagement in respectful, culturally grounded ways.
At the core of Dylan’s work is a simple truth: build trust, build relationships, and meet people where they are. Whether he’s yarning with community or supporting his team, Dylan brings openness, care, and a depth shaped by his journey.
Over a year into his role at CSIRO, he continues to grow as a quiet leader, one who earns trust through action, not attention.
His story is one of returning to community, again and again, with purpose.