Trish's Story

Trish, a proud Gomeroi, Murri, Yinnah has just submitted a chapter to a textbook on ‘Indigenising the curriculum’. This is just the latest step in an academic journey that began in 1987 when Trish’s much younger sister, Ros, asked Trish to go with her to study in Open Foundation. As Trish remembers it, her first answer was no, but with a change of heart, her decision to say yes “totally changed my life”. Trish was 35 when she began Open Foundation.

Her family had moved to Newcastle from the bush thirty years earlier and Trish would eventually gain a place at the academically selective Newcastle Girls’ High. In the 1960s, however, it was common for girls to leave school around the age of 15 after completing the Intermediate Certificate and Trish followed suit without question. Having inherited a strong work ethic from her parents, Trish found employment at a local newsagent’s, then at an industry canteen followed by work at a clothing factory, before having her first child. At this time, Trish’s mother got a job as a cleaner at the University where her daughter would, decades later, be a lecturer. As her children grew up, Trish sometimes wondered “Could I have finished high school?” In 1977, she tossed a coin to decide if she would go to TAFE to complete the HSC or have another baby – she had another baby. Ten years later, she would begin Open Foundation.

On a typical day, Trish would wake at 3:30 in the morning for her cleaning job, return home by 8:00 to get her youngest to school, spend the day studying, and attend university in the evening. Despite this gruelling schedule, she became “addicted” to study. Trish wasn’t sure what she wanted to study for her undergraduate degree, at first believing that a Bachelor of Arts was something to do with drawing. Eventually, she majored in History and Sociology, often taking the same subjects as her sister Ros, also studying for her degree. Both sisters were deeply impressed by their history lecturer, Margaret Henry, a “brilliant” woman, who was sensitive to First Nations peoples truth telling. Trish followed her Arts degree with a Diploma of Aboriginal Studies. At this point, she applied for a position at the University of Newcastle as an Associate Lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing. Despite her qualifications, Trish didn’t believe she would get the job; part of her still thought of herself as a cleaner, not an academic. But her interview went well and Trish became the first Aboriginal academic employed under the Aboriginal employment strategy at the University. She taught Aboriginal health and also focussed on the recruitment and retention of Indigenous students.

Trish, although not a nurse, holds status as a founding member of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives. Trish’s expertise was also recognised further afield, with Flinders University offering her a job in 1997 which she turned down in favour of staying in Newcastle. Around this time, Trish also played an important part on the working party to establish YAPUG, the University of Newcastle’s Indigenous pathways program, which is still going strong today. Trish was awarded a Master of Social Science in 1999 and a Graduate Diploma in Education by the University of New England a few years later. Despite these impressive achievements, Trish admits she sometimes still suffers from “imposter syndrome”.

Currently, Trish teaches Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Open Foundation to Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Whether working at Callaghan or Ourimbah campuses, Trish likes to play Aboriginal music in her lectures and tutorials, often using protest songs to illustrate the struggles the Indigenous community has faced.  In the first lecture of the semester, as the students troop into the lecture hall, Trish especially enjoys playing Christine Anu’s song Party with its chorus beginning “Why don’t you join my party?” Trish’s party in Open Foundation began many years ago, and she is still delighted to welcome others to the party that transformed her life.

Story by Ryan O’Neill

Photos by Visual Communication Design student, Kristen Zahra

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