History of her making

Growing up in Perth, at 15 her schooling abruptly ended after years of exasperation at an out-dated syllabus and attitudes. In particular, it was one Social Sciences teacher’s response to her questioning why there were no pre-colonisation histories taught at school:

“My teacher answered, ‘There are none to teach’. This – on top of an earlier family trauma that had a profound impact on my education – was the final straw for my secondary schooling. It took me ten years to re-enter formal education.”

Olivia moved out of home and continued to support herself.

“I had to be fearless as to where I applied for work and why. I worked for fast food restaurants, tried a hairdressing apprenticeship and even got a security guard qualification.”

The jump from retail to administrative work through an Indigenous identified position as a library assistant at the University of WA gave Olivia the skills to move on to the Rights Management area at the ABC in Sydney.

All the while, Olivia had met her husband and was soon raising a baby – and, as challenging as it was, she then relocated to Melbourne and worked in a series of Indigenous-related roles at organisations including the ABC and Koorie Heritage Trust.

After completing her honours degree at VU, in 2016 Olivia was one of three Indigenous Australians awarded the Charlie Perkins Trust Scholarship.

“My scholarship enabled me to accept my offer at Cambridge University (UK), where I moved with my two children and husband to complete my Masters degree in Social Anthropology.”

In 2017 her academic dreams were realised when she applied for, and was accepted into a PhD program at Cambridge – exploring impacts of Indigenous Australian theatre in secondary schools.

“I can’t imagine what my life would look like now if I hadn’t studied at VU – I’d probably still be working and raising my children, waiting for the perfect moment to study.”