Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday I had the honour of attending a very uplifting celebration: the 100th birthday of a resident of Wadeye on the north-west coast of the Northern Territory, Bilimbi Agatha Perdjert. Traditional dancers from the Wangga and Lirrga ceremonial groups performed, and children from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Thamarrurr Catholic School sang to mark the happy occasion.

This was an extraordinary event. We spend a lot of time in this place talking about the need to close the gap, and here we have a woman who has lived in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory for 100 years—remarkable. She is the oldest living resident in Wadeye and, I suspect, the oldest living resident in any Aboriginal community in the Top End. She moved from living a traditional bush life to the mission and now the modern era. She has seen a great deal over that hundred years. She was a member of the Mati Ke language group, whose country includes the outstation of Kuy, a small distance from Wadeye. She has seen many changes during her life and was heavily involved in the history of the Catholic Church in Wadeye and the district. Bilimbi's husband, Perdjert, was very involved with Father Docherty, who set up when the Catholic missionaries arrived in 1935. He was a key offsider for Father Docherty and played an important role in early mission life. Her brother was a wallaby hunter for Father Docherty. So you can imagine the sort of life she had.

Agatha's son Boniface Perdjert was the first child to be born in the newly founded mission. Boniface himself is now a senior traditional owner in the community and a significant community leader. Boniface was the first Aboriginal person to be ordained as a deacon of the Catholic Church, in 1974. She is a very proud and wonderful woman, and I was overjoyed to be at this celebration of her wonderful life, extraordinary as it has been.

While at Wadeye I was able to witness the many great things that happen in this community, which rarely attract proper attention—certainly from the media. I saw the work of the Palngun Wurnangat Women's Committee, for example, who in conjunction with a pharmaceutical company are developing a major commercial project based on the Kakadu plum. It is really impressive stuff. I also saw the Ngepan Patha Tea House Hub and Neighbourhood Centre, built largely by local labour using building materials fabricated by the local Thamarrurr Development Corporation. I also witnessed the work of two dedicated professional teachers at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic School, Dominic and Siobhan. The lively interest of the grade 5/6 students was another uplifting experience. They had previously come to visit me here in this place. So it is really fitting that today we honour the people of Wadeye and, most particularly, the 100th birthday of Agatha Bilimbi Perdjert.

However, something not so uplifting, and actually quite sad, was the passing recently of Jill Tudor—a magnificent woman, loving partner, wife, parent and educator—who passed away on the morning of 21 November 2015. Jill was a very distinguished educator who commenced service with the Department of Education in the Northern Territory in October 1992 at the Alice Springs Language Centre. In April 1993 she moved to Bradshaw Primary School, where she taught until December 1996. She was promoted to catering for diversity curriculum adviser in the corporate office during 1997-98. She then moved to Larapinta Primary School as senior teacher, which was quickly followed by her promotion at the beginning of 2000 to assistant principal at Braitling Primary School.

In April 2004 Jill transferred as assistant principal to Alice Springs School of the Air, where she was promoted to principal in November 2005. During the second semester of 2008, Jill performed higher duties as principal of Braitling Primary School. In January 2009 she commenced in the role of principal at Bradshaw Primary School. From 2011 to 2013 she engaged Bradshaw Primary School in an intensive improvement agenda related to both attendance and teaching and learning, with significant results over the three-year period. In 2011, in her third year at the helm, the school was the winner of the Northern Territory's Smart Schools Award for excellence in student inclusion and wellbeing. In 2012, the school received a further NT Smart Schools Award for excellence in improving inclusion and wellbeing. In July-August this year, Jill acted with distinction as Director School Performance Alice Springs. In 2013, Jill was the primary principal of the year in the Teaching in the Territory Excellence Awards. In the same year, she received a John Laing Professional Development Award from the Principals Australia Institute, which acknowledges principals from all states and territories who demonstrate outstanding leadership. She was proud to receive this recognition from her peers at a national level.

Sadly, in late 2013 Jill took extended leave due to illness, concluding her time at Bradshaw Primary School. In term 4 of 2014, the Schools South corporate office was privileged to utilise Jill's abundance of skills and expertise to the benefit of her colleagues across the Territory through her establishment of an innovative coaching and mentoring program for school leaders. However, sadly, continued ill-health caused Jill to retire from the department on 19 June 2015. On 27 November 2015 Jill was posthumously awarded the Chief Minister's prestigious Public Service Medal for her outstanding meritorious service. Always the professional, Jill had prepared an acceptance message to be read at the ceremony, in which she stated how honoured and privileged she had been to work for the Northern Territory public service and to contribute to its growth. She expressed her appreciation of being able to access high calibre professional learning. She paid tribute to her colleagues, who she described as, 'first-class, hard-working and innovative, always ready to have a go at changing practice to improve outcomes for students, even in the face of public disquiet or adversity'.

Jill made an outstanding, very significant and unselfish contribution and influenced the lives of countless students, parents and colleagues. In everything that she did, Jill epitomised the core values of professional respect, innovation, diversity and excellence. I thank her principal mate Karen Blanchfield for providing those words, and for reminding us that Jill was such a wonderful woman. Jill came to Alice Springs with Chris, her husband, who took up a position at St Philip's. They moved into a house at that college, which became the family home. Four children were born there—James, the eldest, who had his first child, Lily, just before Jill passed; Sarah; Davey and Bec were all born and grew up there—and all of the children have followed in the footsteps of their wonderful parents and taken up work in education. Three of them are working at St Philip's; the only one who is not is Bec. The family is a very close one who grew up loving the outdoor lifestyle that Alice Springs offers. Jill was a very private person with a close group of friends.

She was very astute and was regarded for her common sense and ability to put issues into perspective. She also had a very strong sense of humour. She was a wonderful human being. Her and her husband had been building a new house at Mansfield in north-eastern Victoria and, sadly, she will not see it finished. I know it was a work which she and Chris were very heavily engaged with. To her eldest son James, partner Jess and baby Lily, Sarah, partner Nathan and baby Noah, Davey, partner Jen and baby William, and Bec and Troy, I pass on my and my family's condolences. Your mother was a wonderful human being. All who knew her, admired and respected her for who she was and the contribution she made.

Karen Blanchfield wrote: 'One of Jill's strongest leadership qualities that many of us could learn from is summed up in a quote she once presented to me'—that is, to Karen—'"the quietest member of the orchestra is the conductor".' Jill led from the back. There was never any doubt that she was a wonderful and true leader.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 18:46 .