Indigenous pioneer Ken Wyatt charts historic course

Ken Wyatt’s most vivid memories of his wheatbelt home are of the kindness and friendship locals gave his big Aboriginal family.

Ken Wyatt. Picture: Gary Ramage

Ken Wyatt’s most vivid memories of his wheatbelt home are of the kindness and friendship locals gave his big Aboriginal family, the first indigenous people to move into a house inside the Corrigin town limits.

Mr Wyatt has not forgotten the petitioner who went door-to-door to try to get them kicked out of town, but he prefers to focus on the fact that “the townspeople wanted us to stay and have a fair go”.

When some parents learned that young Ken was invited to the 12th birthday party of local girl Nanette Boothey, several children were not allowed to attend. Yet Mr Wyatt says he and his nine younger siblings had their most memorable Christmas in that ­little West Australian town thanks to locals who knew their father had been off work recovering from an operation and could not afford to give them presents.

A local man delivered the Wyatt kids a box trailer of brightly wrapped presents and bottles of cool drink.

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Born on a former mission south of Perth in 1952, Mr Wyatt was a conscientious student who later worked in a funeral parlour, as a schoolteacher and as a health bureaucrat before becoming the first indigenous person elected to the House of Representatives in 2010.

He is the first indigenous person in federal cabinet, and as Minister for Indigenous Australians he has taken on the difficult task of establishing an indigenous voice that could reshape the way governments and indigenous people speak to each other.

He is steering the nation towards a historic referendum on the question of whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be recognised in the Constitution. Mr Wyatt believes this — and the establishment of a legislated voice — are a form of nation building that can close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

“These are … important steps to heal our nation’s past and allow us to live out our future as a unified nation — built on understanding, respect and opportunity for all,” he said.

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