Australia Day 2022 Awards: Southern Tablelands hero recognised

She who “learnt so much about (herself) and (her own country) by meeting others in theirs” has been recognised in the Australia Day 2022 Honours List at the age of 75.

Led by a sense of curiosity to understand the unknown, Professor Virginia Hooker has now at the age of 75 been recognised for her life’s work in the Australia Day 2022 Honours List.

Mrs Hooker, who resides on a farm with her husband just outside of Braidwood in Daurran Durra, has been appointed to the Order of Australia in recognition of her significant service to tertiary education, and to Asia-Pacific relations.

Upon hearing she was nominated, Mrs Hooker was both proud and astonished.

“It was a huge surprise that at the age of 75, I would be included in the honours list,” Mrs Hooker said.

“I’m so grateful to the people that took the trouble to nominate me as it brings recognition that is very important for individuals, especially when they’re sort of at the end of their careers.”

Virginia Hooker reading a book she coedited with Professor Greg Fealy called Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia. Picture: Paul Cockram

Mrs Hooker is known both nationally and internationally for her work and passion for the region, its landscapes, history, culture and people.

Her research has focused on Islam in Southeast Asia, literature and social change in Malaysia and Indonesia, and Indonesian political culture.

When asked about her particular interest in Indonesia, she said that at 17, “Indonesia was the top headline on the news.”

“Indonesia was so close to Australia yet we knew so little about it back in 1963,” Mrs Hooker said.

This inspired her quest for knowledge and she moved from Sydney to Canberra to study at ANU, which was offering the ability to study Indonesia to “increase Australia’s knowledge of its region.”

“When I was finally, as a woman, employed in 1983 in my early 30s – my first full time job in academic life – it was because of the expansion of interest into our Asian neighbours, particularly in Southeast Asia,” Mrs Hooker said.

“I was able to study it at undergraduate level, go to Monash University for my PhD and return to ANU and contribute to the teaching about Southeast Asia.”

She still volunteers at ANU, where she was a professor and fellow in the Department of Political & Social Change, College of Asia and the Pacific, and professor of Indonesian and Malay in the Faculty of Asian Studies.

Most recently in 2019, Mrs Hooker co-authored a children’s picture book called All Of Us.

“When speaking to Jackie French (co-author), we realised there was no history for Australian children of Southeast Asia, and she said ‘Well, we’ll write one,’” Mrs Hooker said.

Mrs Hooker stressed her message of how important education is.

“The more we can support our teachers everywhere in Australia, the brighter our future will be,” Mrs Hooker said.

“My nine-year-old grandchild said to me, ‘without teachers, we don’t have doctors, engineers, and more teachers’,” Mrs Hooker said.

“It was by studying Indonesia and going there that I learnt more about Australia,” Mrs Hooker said.

“You just learn so much about yourself and about your own country by meeting other people in theirs.”

Mrs Hooker is involved with a Sydney organisation called the Public Education Foundation, which centres around giving scholarships to refugees to help them transition from secondary to tertiary education.

When asked what her proudest academic achievements are, she said her students.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to teach young Australians that have come through ANU, who have then gone on to develop their own interests and specialities in the region, and make Australia proud,” Mrs Hooker said.

She named a few, one of who was Allison Sudradjat, AusAID’s foreign affairs representative in Indonesia and then minister-counsellor, who was among four Australians to be killed in the 2007 plane crash, on her way to an AusAID meeting in Central Java, Indonesia.

Allison Sudradjat who died at 39 year old in a plane crash heading to Indonesia for a work meeting. Picture: Wikipedia

“She headed the Australian aid effort for post tsunami, Indonesia. And that was a 50 billion dollar aid, the biggest aid amount that Australia‘s ever given any country,” Mrs Hooker said.

“She was extraordinary in both her knowledge of Indonesia and her managerial capacities,” Mrs Hooker said.

Anyone can nominate any Australian for an award in the Order of Australia. If you know someone worthy, nominate them now at www.gg.gov.au.