{"id":554833,"date":"2026-03-21T11:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554833\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:32:10","slug":"rhoda-roberts-indigenous-cultural-leader-who-introduced-the-term-welcome-to-country-dies-aged-66-indigenous-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554833\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhoda Roberts, Indigenous cultural leader who introduced the term \u2018welcome to country\u2019, dies aged 66 | Indigenous Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Rhoda Roberts, the Bundjalung Widjabul Wiyebal cultural leader and arts devotee, has died at the age of 66.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In a statement made via Instagram, Roberts\u2019s family announced she had died peacefully in hospital on Saturday afternoon, having been diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer seven months ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe Roberts-Field family are heartbroken to announce that our beautiful Rhoda Roberts has returned to the Dreaming on Saturday,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>Allow Instagram content?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-j4jr8l\">This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click &#8216;Allow and continue&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cRhoda will be deeply missed by all whose hearts she touched, she was an incredible person in so many ways. Words fail to capture the true love, depth, intelligence and warmth that was our beloved Rhoda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Roberts introduced the term \u201cwelcome to country\u201d in the 1980s, co-founded the National Aboriginal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/stage\/theatre\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Theatre<\/a> Trust in 1988 and, in 1990, became the first Aboriginal person to host a prime-time current affairs program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cShe dedicated her life to culture, country and people from all walks of life. She never judged and never discriminated, she always wanted to help uplift people\u2019s lives and provide love and care,\u201d her family said. \u201cShe faced so much trauma in her life, but continued fighting and never gave up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cNo one compared to our Rhoda and there will never be another like her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called Roberts \u201ca trailblazer\u201d who enriched Australians\u2019 understanding of the world\u2019s oldest living culture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cRhoda Roberts\u2019 generosity enriched Australians\u2019 lives, her wisdom enlarged our nation\u2019s understanding,\u201d he said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer grace gifted to all of us a deeper sense of who we are and the extraordinary privilege we have to share this continent with the oldest continuous culture in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRhoda made it easier for others to not just follow in her footsteps, but to continue the journey after her final one. That is the power of her legacy and through it, Rhoda will always be with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The minister for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/indigenous-australians\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indigenous Australians<\/a>, Malarndirri McCarthy, said Roberts had been a confidante and mentor to her, when the pair worked as journalists in the 1990s. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will treasure our final conversation recently about how First Nations people are now everywhere in the arts and media sectors, in front of and behind cameras and on stage,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhoda Roberts, the Bundjalung Widjabul Wiyebal cultural leader and arts devotee, has died at the age of 66.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-554833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}