Acknowledging Women Blakademics on International Women’s Day

During my undergrad I went to countless ceremonies where all the students who were awarded or recognised for their academic prowess through their years of study were men. While Blak men being represented in academia is a powerful thing – these systems were built to exclude us as Blak people. It’s not often acknowledged that so much of what’s been achieved by Blakademics can only be done because a Blak woman went first. 

An example of this was when I was invited to a conference for Blak university students at the University of Sydney. The event organisers billed the university as a special place for us to gather, since it was apparently the university in Australia that schooled Charles Perkins, the first Blak university student and graduate.

Charles Perkins was an Arrente and Kalkadoon man who was behind the Freedom Ride that brought racial discrimination to the attention of the Australian mainstream through increased media and student actions.

When I read this the conference invitation making this claim, I knew it was incorrect. Although Charles Perkins was the first Blak man to graduate from university, he wasn’t the first Blak person to do this. The first Blak person to enrol in a university was Bundjaung woman Margaret Williams-Weir (who graduated with a Diploma of Physical Education), who began her academic journey at University of Queensland, and changed to University of Melbourne. The first Blak person to graduate university with a Bachelor’s Degree was Margaret Valadian (who graduated with a Bachelor’s of Social Science) at the University of Queensland. 

Not only were these accolades both achieved by women first, but neither were even at the University of Sydney. When I wrote to the organisers about this, they admitted they’d not heard of either Williams-Weir or Valadian. 

Williams-Weir and Valadian were the first of many

Blakademia stems from a long line of staunch women. A big example is  “education crusader” Gamilaaray woman Pearl Duncan, who was the first tertiary qualified Aboriginal teacher.  

Duncan is celebrated in education. There’s a scholarship named after her, a documentary covering her work (that caused quite the stir and was banned) and was awarded a Centenary medal in 2004 in recognition of community service through Indigenous education and named as a Queensland great in 2008.Outside of the education sector, her achievements aren’t well known. Despite living in the same state as Duncan, I only discovered who she was when researching this very topic.

Erasure or underpromotion of Blak women in academia is nothing unusual;. Despite the slowly growing numbers of Blak women getting jobs in academia, Women Blakademics continue to be underrepresented. The barriers many of us face are rooted in systemic racism, sexism and the extended effects of colonialism. Gomeroi academic Dr Amy Thunig has numerous works about the ways Blak women in academia are burned from universities and other organisations. We are often seen as ‘Window Dressing’, left feeling like a ‘black performer’ in an academic world, and often have to deal with white people taking credit for our work. 

This gatekeeping by white academics and the institutions they benefit from, causes Blak women’s achievements to easily be overlooked or forgotten. Even though so many industries benefit from their resilience and strength. 

Blakademic women still paving the way

Palyku woman Helen Milroy was Australia’s first recognised Aboriginal doctor, a job people stereotypically associate with men. Much of Milroy’s work has been focused on improving the mental health outcomes for mob. Milroy also specialises in exploring the role of trauma in Indigenous health and the importance of cultural identity in healing.

A lot of how we address and focus on mental health for mob today is shaped by Milroy’s work in the area. If being the first person to do something and pave the way for others in the future wasn’t impressive enough, then surely the work she’s done since has done more than enough to earn her flowers. 

Similarly, in Pharmacy, Yamatji woman Faye McMillan was the first registered Aboriginal pharmacist and the first Aboriginal person to own and operate a pharmacy in Western Australia. McMillian was the 2022 Pharmacist of the year, was New South Wales’ Aboriginal Woman of the Year in 2019 and was awarded the Order of Australia medal in 2017 for her service to Indigenous health. Outside of this, McMillan boasts 10 qualifications in total, across disciplines. Mcmillan is just one example of how some Blak women could thrive in academia if they’re not being held back by white gatekeeping.

Much like Milroy, McMillan’s work is often assumed to be carried out by a man, as is often the case in health professions. Despite this, McMillan’s work has had a much needed positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples.

Pat O’Shane is a Kuku Yulandji woman who boasts numerous firsts. She was the first Aboriginal teacher in QLD, the first Aboriginal person to earn a law degree, the first Aboriginal barrister, the first Aboriginal magistrate in NSW Court, and the first woman and Aboriginal person to be the head of a government department. When she was awarded the Marcia Langton lifetime achievement award at the 2013 Deadly awards, a spokesperson said “This is an Aboriginal woman who blazed a path for others to follow. Because many of her achievements have been firsts for her people she is a genuine and inspiring role model for others”. 

While according to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework, the amount of Indigenous people completing university is rising (from 38 per 10,000 in 2001 to 67 per 10,000 in 2018). Academia is still a very sexist, colonial and patriarchal system that only gets to be enjoyed by Blak people who haven’t been completely disillusioned by the process of getting there in the first place.

However, because of the trailblazers that led the way for Indigenous higher learning and Blakademics still here working hard today including  Marcia Langton and Aileen Moreton Robinson, Dr Sandra Phillips and Dr Fiona Foley, I have hope these systems will soon be led entirely by black women and that black women will get the respect and recognition they deserve. 

It’s not enough for us to only acknowledge Blak women and their achievements when the NAIDOC theme calls for it, or when we’re correcting someone assigning their achievements to a man. It truly is ‘because of her we can’ but we need to remember that daily.