Henrietta managed AUD $30 million in philanthropic grants through The Christensen Fund between 2003-2012. She has supported many Indigenous initiatives across northern Australia that include assisting Indigenous communities to move back on to their traditional homelands and support their traditional land management and environmental conservation practices, revitalise languages, promote education leadership and networking, particularly among Indigenous youth, and provide crucial support to a number of Indigenous cultural initiatives and festivals. Henrietta was born in Yarrabah, an Aboriginal community east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet, in northeast Queensland. Rising above a backdrop of racism and social exclusion, she has dedicated her life to preserving the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, both in her home community, around Australia and internationally. She was the first Aboriginal person from Australia to be appointed in a professional position with the United Nations, and then the first to work within an overseas philanthropic body. She has fought for the repatriation of cultural artifacts, drafted international guidelines to protect sacred sites, been instrumental in setting up an international institution for traditional knowledge in Australia. She has worked for many years as an academic with over 80 publications to her credit on issues relating to the protection of Indigenous cultural heritage, intellectual property, philanthropy, economic development and Cultural and eco-tourism, the bushfood industry, and access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing. She has served on a number of government committees and inquiries, as well as acted as an advisor to government bodies including Environment Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Wet Tropics Management Agency.

On January 26th 2018, Henrietta was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division, and on June 8th she was recognised as a Queensland Great. Recently she was appointed by the Minister for Indigenous Australians to the Council of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and is also a member of the Queensland Human Rights Commission’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group.