Aboriginal leader Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Bauman is a woman of vision and insight. All her adult life she has worked to share this in many fields: as a gifted teacher and education administrator, as an acclaimed artist and illustrator, and now as a much in-demand speaker, spreading her insights across cultural and racial divides.
She spoke with Eureka Street TV at an Indigenous theology symposium held at Australian Catholic University, Brisbane. The interview is sponsored by the University's Asia-Pacific Centre for Inter-Religious Dialogue. She talks about the challenges facing Aboriginal communities and the need for support from the broader community, and the Aboriginal concept of dadirri, a form of deep inner listening and contemplation. (Continues below)
Miriam-Rose was born in 1950 near Nauiyu (formerly called Daly River) about 200 km south of Darwin. She is part of the Ngangikurunggurr language group, and speaks four other Aboriginal languages, as well as English.
When she was 18 she began training as a teacher at Kormilda College in Darwin. After completing this she became a teacher's aide at St Francis Xavier mission school at Daly River. A few years later she returned to Kormilda for further study, and also took up painting.
She began using art in the classroom as a means of helping children express themselves, and she developed her own style of painting, often combining Aboriginal motifs and Christian symbols. Perhaps her best known series of paintings is her Australian Stations of the Cross.
In 1974 the Commonwealth Government sponsored her to spend time in Victorian schools where she worked with art teachers. In 1975 she returned to Daly River as the Northern Territory's first fully qualified Aboriginal teacher, and then for many years she was Art Consultant to the Territory's Department of Education. In this capacity she visited schools throughout the Top End encouraging students' practice of art.
In 1988 Miriam-Rose graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Deakin University. Shortly after she began training as a school principal, and in 1993 was appointed as Principal of St Francis Xavier School at Daly River. In the same year she was awarded a Bachelor of Education by Deakin University, and in 1999 she gained a Master of Education with High Distinction.
In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her role in promoting Aboriginal education and art, and for services to the Nauiyu community. She was