Kungarakan and Gurindji woman Dr Kathleen Mills OAM (Ngirawat Almiyuk Mooradoop), a decorated writer and musician and a prominent community leader who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Batchelor Institute, sadly passed away on 24 April 2022 at the age of 86.
Mooradoop was directly involved in the formation of many key First Nations organisations in the Northern Territory, including Batchelor College which would go on to become today’s Batchelor Institute. The honorary doctorate, which was awarded last month during a ceremony held at Palmerston Regional Hospital, recognised her exceptional contributions to the wellbeing of First Nations peoples throughout her life.
Her professional milestones included being the first woman elected to the Northern Land Council, being a co-commissioner for the Northern Territory panel of the Stolen Generations Inquiry, and becoming a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the Indigenous community. She lobbied tirelessly for reparations for the Stolen Generations and championed the languages of First Nations peoples.
She was key to the formation of the FORWAARD organisation which provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She was a founding member of Danila Dilba, Darwin’s only Aboriginal-controlled health service. She was also a member of the education consultative group Feppi, which was instrumental in the transition of an annex of Kormilda College into Batchelor College and subsequently Batchelor Institute.
Mooradoop’s notable creative achievements included her years of participation in the NT Writers Festival, the publication of her poetry in anthologies and journals, and the much-loved ‘Arafura Pearl’ being recognised as an icon by the NT Heritage Society.
A co-authored book about her father, Jungung Jack McGinness: Plaiting the grass for family, the community and the future 1902-1973, was released in 2019, while Mookanoonganuk, a collection of her poetry published by Batchelor Press, was launched at the NT Writers Festival in 2020 to much acclaim.
The title Mookanunganuk embodies notions of regeneration, rebirth and life cycle. In the introduction to the collection, the author described the concept in terms of the cycle of the waterlily’s growth: from its roots embedded in the land to its stems growing in a watery domain, and then the crowning glory of its lily pads and flower reaching fresh air.
The honorary doctorate ceremony, which took place on 16 March 2022, was attended by Mooradoop along with family members, friends, and colleagues. Strips from paperbark trees collected in the Batchelor area adorned a display at the ceremony, while guests enjoyed a live rendition of ‘Arafura Pearl’ as part of the proceedings.
During the ceremony, Batchelor Institute senior lecturer Evelyn Schaber described her as having been “at the forefront of work to support the healing of individuals, families and communities, and instrumental not only in Batchelor’s history but also Aboriginal education as a whole.”
The family has provided permission for the use of her name and image.