Tributes are flowing for Aboriginal cultural, arts and media savant, Rhoda Roberts AO.
A proud Widajabul Wieybal woman from the Bundjalung Nation, Ms Roberts passed away on Saturday, at the age of 66.
Her family made the announcement of her passing online.
Ms Roberts grew up in Lismore, in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. She left school after Year 10 and moved to Sydney to study nursing, graduating in 1979 at Canterbury Hospital. Her nursing career took her to England where she specialised in accident and emergency.
Upon her return from overseas, Ms Roberts pivoted to the performing arts and broadcasting.
She co-founded the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust and established The Dreaming and Boomerang Festivals to elevate Indigenous performers and music artists.
She is credited as the creative force behind the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony and Sydney’s New Years’ Eve Celebrations. Her other artistic endeavours included curating the Parrtjima Festival in Alice Springs and Dance Rites during her tenure as the inaugural Head of Indigenous Programming at Sydney Opera House.
The Widajabul Wieybal woman started her media career with SBS in 1990, as a journalist and presenter of Vox Populi, making her mark on mainstream television. Ms Roberts also produced and presented a national music show, Deadly Sounds for Deadly Vibe, and was also a long time presenter of the ABC’s flagship Indigenous arts and culture radio programme, Awaye!
In 2021, she became the inaugural Elder in Residence at SBS, and in 2024 was named cultural lead at Koori Mail, a paper founded by her father, Frank Roberts Snr.
Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, remembered her as a mentor.
“Rhoda Roberts inspired so many Australians, especially First Nations Australians in the media and creative arts.
“Rhoda was a confidant and mentor to me and many others, during our time as journalists in the 1990s.
“I will treasure our final conversation recently about how First Nations people are now everywhere in the arts and media sectors, in front of and behind cameras and on stage.”
She is survived by her partner Stephen, and her children Emily, Jack and Sarah.
