Monday, 12 May 2008
Statement from Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma and Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick about the passing of Dr Marika
Every now and then you come across a person who epitomises the true spirit of compassion and human dignity. Dr Marika was such a person. Her sudden passing means the loss of a powerful force for human rights, respect and human dignity.
Dr Marika was a tireless advocate for Aboriginal people, land rights, reconciliation, Aboriginal education, and Aboriginal law and culture. Those who knew her will know that her mobility disability and her ailing heart did not slow her in her ambitions to create a better world.
In 2006 she was awarded Northern Territorian of the Year and in the same year she was made Justice of the Peace for her region of North East Arnhem Land. She was on the Board of Reconciliation Australia and a Director of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She had authored and co-authored a number of publications about Aboriginal education, with a focus on bi-lingual education.
She had attended and spoken at forums across Australia about Aboriginal land rights, economic development for Aboriginal communities and educational development for Aboriginal children. In 2006 she appeared before a Senate committee to advocate for Aboriginal land rights, following in the footsteps of her father who carried the bark petition to the Australian Parliament in 1971.
Dr Marika was a rare person who worked and advocated on a national level while also giving of her time and knowledge in her own community. She had taught at Yirrkala School for many years and had more recently been working at the Knowledge Centre in Yirrkala.
She will be remembered for many things; especially her passion for assisting young Aboriginal Australians to live as proud ambassadors of their culture, as well as people who could operate in the Western world - just as she did.
She said of her passion for her people: ‘My mother comes from the fire dreaming... She passes that voice on to me and it is powerful. I speak with the authority of that knowledge of the fire dreaming, that burns, sparks and blazes. The fire dreaming is honesty and integrity. It burns away lies. It empowers and gives me knowledge to speak for my land.’
Hers was a voice that burned and sparked and blazed. Her passing is an inestimable loss for all Australians.
Media contact: Louise McDermott on (02) 9284 9851 or 0419 258 597
