Our Indigenous Heroes - They Also Served
(c.1940 - 1 October 2015)[1]
She was an Australian educator, researcher and Royal Canadian Naval officer. Williams-Weir was the first Aboriginal person to matriculate to an Australian University (shared with Geoffrey Penny),[2] attend an Australian University[3] and graduate from an Australian University.[4]
Margaret Williams Weir’s people are the Malera Bandjalang whose land is around Grafton in northern New South Wales. The youngest child in a large family, she made the most of her limited opportunities by doing well at school.
Education
Williams-Weir matriculated from Casino High School when she was seventeen years old and in so doing, shared honours in 1956 with a Western Australian man, Geoffrey Penny, by becoming the first aboriginal person to matriculate to an Australian University. In January 1957 the University of Queensland offered her a scholarship and she commenced an arts degree. ‘There was a great amount of publicity,’ she says. ‘I was the first Aboriginal person to go to university in Australia’ (Weir). She was offered a scholarship to live at the University Women's College while completing her studies from 1958 to 1959.[4] Wlliams-Weir went on to complete a Bachelor of Education, a research master's degree (with Honours) and a Doctor of Philosophy, with her thesis entitled Indigenous Australians and Universities: A Study of Postgraduate Students' Experiences in Learning Research at the University of New England in 2001.[5][7][10]
From the moment she enrolled at university, Weir knew that she was trailblazing and that her leadership was of enormous symbolic importance beyond her own development. ‘I knew I was opening a door for others and had to finish because,’ she says, ‘if I failed white people would say they gave a black person an opportunity but what’s the point?’ (Weir). Not only did she succeed, but she also made the most of the opportunity she was given. She has travelled the world, taught in schools locally and abroad, contributed to government policy on indigenous education initiatives, completed her PhD and even served in the Canadian Navy. Says Weir, about her time at university, ‘I’ve never looked back’ (Weir).
From her earliest days at university, Weir recognized the symbolic significance of her achievements. ‘I knew I was opening a door for others and had to finish because,’ she remarked, ‘if I failed white people would say they gave a black person an opportunity but what’s the point?’ (Weir). Not only did she succeed, but she also maximized the opportunities given to her. Her career includes teaching locally and abroad, shaping government policy on Indigenous education, completing her PhD, traveling internationally, and even serving in the Canadian Navy. Reflecting on her journey, she states, ‘I’ve never looked back’ (Weir).
Naval service
Williams-Weir was an Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1966 to 1969.[6]
Margaret Williams passed away in 2015, not long after she was recognised for her contribution to the development of Indigenous education policy by the University of Melbourne through the naming of the Dr Margaret Williams-Weir Lounge in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and the Dr Margaret Williams-Weir Vice-Chancellor’s Fellowship, of which Noel Pearson is the inaugural recipient.
A life-long educator, Dr Williams-Weir was an Alumna of University Women’s College, where she was offered a scholarship. She was the first Aboriginal graduate of an Australian University.
References
Published Resources
Newspaper Articles
Online Resources
Site Exhibition
Work cited
Nikki Henningham, ‘Weir, Margaret Williams’, in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Australian Women’s Archives Project, 2014, https://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0768b.htm, accessed 16 January 2022.
Posted in Education, Maritime, Military and tagged Indigenous, Indigenous > Aboriginal Australian.
