Alitya Wallara Rigney

AO, PSM
Born(1942-11-27)27 November 1942
Point Pearce, South Australia
Died13 May 2017(2017-05-13) (aged 74)
Adelaide, South Australia
NationalityNarungga and Kaurna
Other namesAlice Rigney
CitizenshipAustralian
Alma materUniversity of South Australia
Occupation(s)School teacher and principal
Known forreviving Kaurna language
SpouseLester Rigney
Children3

Alitya (Alice Dorothy) Wallara Rigney AO, PSM, née Richards, (27 November 1942 – 13 May 2017), also knowns as Aunty Alice, was an Australian Aboriginal scholar. She was a Kaurna elder and part of the team that revived the Kaurna language.

Early life and education

Alitya (Alice Dorothy) Wallara Richards was born on 27 November 1942 [1] at the Aboriginal Mission at Point Pearce, South Australia.[2]

When she completed primary school, her teacher arranged for her to attend Unley High School in Adelaide as the local high schools would not accept Aboriginal children.[2] She returned to Point Pearce following her schooling and training as a nurse, married and raised her family there.[3]

She worked at the local kindergarten, then as a school support officer at Maitland Area School. She was eventually registered as a teacher, but for Point Pearce only. She then went to Adelaide and was the only Aboriginal student of 400 at what is now the de Lissa Institute of Early Childhood and Family Studies at the University of South Australia (UniSA).[3]

Career

Once she graduated, Rigney was a teacher at a primary school in the western suburbs of Adelaide. She became the first Aboriginal bureaucrat in the South Australian Department of Education. In the 1980s, she agitated for the creation of what became the Kura Yerlo Aboriginal Centre in Largs Bay and the Kaurna Plains School in Elizabeth. She became the first female Aboriginal principal of a primary school in Australia when she took up the post of principal at Kaurna Plains.[4][5]

In 2002, along with Kaurna elder Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien and linguist Rob Amery,[6] Rigney was a co-founder of Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi at the University of Adelaide, which observes and promote the development of the Kaurna language.[7]

Recognition

Rigney was awarded a Public Service Medal in 1991.[8]

In 1998 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of South Australia[4][9] in recognition of her pioneering contribution to Aboriginal education.[3]

In 2000 she was appointed a panel member of the S.A. Guardianship Board.[10]

Flags at UniSA were flown at half-mast following her death.[3]

She was posthumously made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours.[11]

Death, family, and legacy

Rigney died in Adelaide on 13 May 2017, a day after her husband Lester was buried on their birth country at Point Pearce.[12]

Their three children all have roles in education: Lester-Irabinna Rigney is a professor of education at UniSA, Eileen Wanganeen is a teacher and education leader, and Tracey Ritchie is a principal Aboriginal consultant at the Department of Education and Child Development.[3]

Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi continues its support of the Kaurna language.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "RIGNEY, Alice (Alitya) Dorothy". Centralian Advocate. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Dr Alice (Alitya) Rigney" (PDF). Leading from the Edge: aboriginal educational leaders tell their story. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pioneering Aboriginal educator Alice Rigney remembered for her courage and wisdom". 17 May 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 "A Tribute to a Remarkable Woman: Dr Alice (Alitya) Rigney PSM". Network SA. 2 June 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  5. ↑ MacGill, Belinda; Whitehead, Kay; Rigney, Lester (2022), "Culture and education with Alice Rigney (1942–2017), Australia's first Aboriginal woman school principal", History of Education Review, doi:10.1108/HER-11-2021-0032, S2CID 248247041, retrieved 9 May 2022
  6. ↑ "Re-Awakening Kaurna, the language of the Adelaide Plains". Alumni and Giving. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Associate Professor Rob Amery". University of Adelaide Staff Directory. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "Public Service Medal (PSM) entry for RIGNEY, Alice Dorothy". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 January 1991. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "SA Leader Dr Alitja Rigney". More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative. 15 March 2016. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "SA Government Gazette" (PDF). 12 October 2000. p. 2384. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  11. ↑ "Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) entry for RIGNEY, Alice Dorothy (Alitya)". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018. For distinguished service to education, particularly through providing opportunities for youth, and to the promotion and protection of Indigenous language, culture and heritage.
  12. ↑ "Pioneering Aboriginal elder remembered as cultural warrior, educator". ABC News. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
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