Global Indigenous rights advocate Henrietta Marrie AM receives 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award

Henrietta Marrie AM, a Yidinji and Gunggandji Elder who grew up in northern Queensland, is an internationally acclaimed Indigenous rights advocate and trailblazer for cultural heritage preservation. She is one of four outstanding leaders recognised at the 2023 University of South Australia Alumni Awards

Yidinji and Gunggandji Elder Henrietta Marrie AM Credit: Renae Droop and Richard Walker

Henrietta Marrie who grew up in northern Queensland, says her experiences in Adelaide while completing a Diploma in Teaching and a Graduate Diploma of Arts (Indigenous Studies) at UniSA, were instrumental in shaping her future.

“The upbringing I had was very similar to what I was learning, and the political and international relations components of my Indigenous studies were so relevant to my growing understanding of cultural heritage preservation, and my growing questions,” Henrietta Marrie said.

This background laid the foundation for a commitment to cultural heritage that saw her becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to be appointed to a United Nations (UN) agency, where she advocated for more than a billion First Nations people around the world, and made recommendations that were cemented into UN guidelines.