Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 29
2000s Alumni Voice
Rebecca Richards
Delivering genuine inclusion
for Indigenous students
Rebecca Richards made history in 2010 when she became Australia’s first Indigenous
Rhodes Scholar. The Young Australian of the Year in the UK is a passionate leader in the
Indigenous community. She graduated from Adelaide with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in
Anthropology in 2011 and is now back at the University doing her PhD.
My fondest memories of my
time studying at the University
of Adelaide are definitely of the
friendships formed with other students,
especially at Wirltu Yarlu. It was great to just
hang out with other students, especially in
the Indigenous common rooms at Yaitya
Purruna and Wirltu Yarlu.
The support, encouragement and belief
in my achievement that I received from
students and staff at Wirltu Yarlu kept me
going in the tough times and ensured that I
had some light moments of relief even when
assignments and exams loomed large.
As an undergraduate and during my
Honours year, I spent many hours each week
in Wirltu Yarlu, both to utilise the excellent
study facilities and to have a secure base of
cultural recognition and support.
and SA Young Achiever of the Year Award
in 2012, and Young Australian of the Year
in the UK in 2013.
The genuine inclusion of Indigenous
students, the encouragement of cultural
awareness amongst academic staff and
the University’s participation in programs
such as NAIDOC celebrations have all been
significant achievements which have seen
Adelaide become a more inclusive and
welcoming place where Aboriginal students
are more likely to achieve success.
The University of Adelaide has made a
great difference in my life. The support
gained from having an organisation that
understands Indigenous struggles and
issues, recognises the importance and
value of our cultural beliefs and practices,
and provides a venue where students
can feel supremely comfortable in the
midst of the often overwhelming university
environment is immeasurable.
I look forward to the time when advocacy
and support ensures that Indigenous
people are represented in the same
percentage in the University as in the
general population and to a time when
our culture and people are at the
forefront of decision-making.
By Rebecca Richards
This fostered my identity and served
to strengthen my ability to work with
confidence within academia and the wider
university environment.
During my undergraduate studies I
completed an Indigenous cadetship at the
National Museum of Australia. I was then
hired full-time as an Indigenous Project
Officer in 2011. I undertook research duties
on Aboriginal bark paintings while at the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History in Washington DC.
I became the first Indigenous Australian
recipient of the Rhodes scholarship,
successfully completed a Master of
Philosophy in Material Anthropology and
Museum Ethnography at the University of
Oxford in 2013. I have also been awarded
the Gladys Elphick Award and Rotary Paul
Harris Fellow (Sapphire Pin) in 2011, the
Young South Australian of the Year Award
Rebecca Richards
Photo by John Montesi
|e University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 2 7
