Broome based linguist Joyce Hudson AM credits ‘stickability’ for her long career with Aboriginal languages in the Kimberley.
A linguist who first came to the Kimberley to translate the bible into Walmajarri has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for significant service to the community through the recording and preservation of Indigenous languages, and to education.
Joyce Hudson says she first left her home in Toowoomba in 1967, bound for Fitzroy Crossing.
“The way across was from Darwin, in my little Hillman (car) which was very inadequate for the climate.
We got bogged in the sand around Christmas Creek… I wasn’t too impressed, I thought ‘how can I get home? How can I go?’
I was one of those who arrived thinking this was not going to be much fun.”
Ms Hudson has since learnt Walmajarri and Kriol, worked as a linguist and consultant, and written and edited a number of books including the 2002 publication Out of the Desert: Stories from the Walmajarri Exodus.
She says she was pleasantly surprised to be nominated, and awarded a member of the Order of Australia.
“It was out of the blue; a letter from the Governor General asking if I’d accept it!”
- This article originally appears at:
- http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2014/01/28/3933371.htm?site=kimberley
- Article taken from the following publication:
- ABC Kimberley
- Article submitted by:
- Author:
- Hilary Smale and Vanessa Mills
