WE WILL RISE AGAIN: RHODA ROBERTS ON TRUTH, MEDIA, AND LEGACY

By Latisha Kadibil

Aunty Rhoda Roberts AO didn’t start out in media. At 16, she said she wanted to be a journalist, but was told to "think of something more suitable for a young woman."

She became a registered nurse instead. Years later, she became the first Aboriginal person to host a prime time current affairs show, Vox Populi. That moment was a turning point.

"It was quite extraordinary because we were able to get Aboriginal stories into that space," she said. “For me, it was groundbreaking and it marked a shift in my life.”

Aunty Rhoda spoke directly to the work of truth-telling in Australian media. She addressed the structural erasure of Indigenous voices and the slow shift toward control over their own narratives. "We are not returning to culture. We are all culture," she said.

She reminded those in the industry that representation is not just presence — it’s authorship.

It's about rewriting language and reclaiming frameworks. And she was clear: Aboriginal media space was not given — "not gifted, hard won."

Her father, Frank Roberts Jr., started The Koori Mail to cement truth in writing. He wanted no more excuses for ignorance.

Aunty Rhoda described it as a sacred duty: "It’s not just a legacy. It’s obligation. It’s the truth. It’s the work. It’s country, spoken aloud."

She sees that legacy carried forward now by her daughter, the Courier Mail team, and Indigenous journalists shaping the future.

That intergenerational transfer of knowledge is not abstract — it’s living, visible, and ongoing.

Looking forward, Aunty Rhoda says the next generation is building on this foundation with new tools, but the message remains the same.

“We will rise and rise again with every generation,” she said. “Because as long as there’s one person in this room who remembers a language word, a song line, a rhythm of country — then colonisation has not won.”