Arabic version: رودا روبرتس تتلقى تكريماً من نايدوك بعد وفاتها
According to The Guardian, Rhoda Roberts was posthumously awarded the lifetime achievement award at the Naidoc awards in Alice Springs on Saturday night. The proud Widjabul Wiyebal woman of the Bundjalung nation, who died in March aged 66, was recognised for sharing, preserving and promoting First Nations culture through language, dance and ceremony.
The Naidoc awards recognise outstanding contributions, achievements and excellence by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. National Naidoc Committee co-chair Lynette Riley said Roberts “was a force” and described her as “fearless, brilliant and deeply committed to community and culture”.
Riley said Roberts had been selected for the honour before her death and that organisers believed it was important to continue recognising her contribution. “Her legacy will continue to inspire generations to come,” Riley said.
Roberts was creative director and choreographer of the Awakening segment at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony in 2000. She was also the first Aboriginal person to host a prime-time current affairs program, SBS’s Vox Populi, in 1991, and co-founded the radio program Deadly Sounds in 1992.
Her later roles included becoming the inaugural head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House in 2012 and creative director of the Parrtjima festival of light in Alice Springs/Mparntwe in 2017. Indigenous Australians minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the year’s winners embodied the spirit of Naidoc as the annual event marked 50 years.
