Vale Rhoda Roberts

WARNING: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders are warned that this story mentions and includes images of an Indigenous person who has died & also contains offensive language from a historical context.

Rhoda Roberts, a mega creative influence on many Sydney Spectaculars, died aged 66 at 1pm on Saturday, March 21, 2026.

To give an idea of the legacy she has left, before 2008, there was only brief, rare references to Indigenous culture in Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE). After her 3-edition term being Sydney NYE‘s creative director ended in 2011, the fruit of her work was that Indigenous event entertainment became mainstream in Australian culture, ending centuries of being pushed out of the spotlight. Now in 2026, Sydney NYE has over an hour of Indigenous content including the most creative segment of the night!

Rhoda worked on more than just Sydney NYE though with her influence on other major Sydney Spectaculars beginning as early as 1995, as detailed below, but it was in those 3 editions of Sydney NYE that she creatively directed that saw her turn Indigenous event entertainment into the mainstream.

Born, Rhoda Ann Roberts, with a twin, Lois, to an activist Aboriginal father, Frank Roberts Junior & an artistic non-Indigenous mother, Muriel Roberts, on July 8, 1959, Rhoda Roberts was a Widjabul/Wieybal woman of the Bundjalung Nation. It was in Goonellabah where she was raised. In the 1960’s, it was a segregated & discriminatory place as Rhoda herself described:

We had colour bars in coffee shops. The swimming pool was a good example. You could go & swim at the school carnival, but you certainly couldn’t go on weekends.

Rhoda Roberts

The experience of a restaurant sitting was also divided & different for her:

You could get takeaway but you couldn’t sit there.

Rhoda Roberts

While experiencing the ever-present fear of being “”taken away” by ‘welfare’ authorities, Rhoda was taught by her parents to “defy” the discriminatory segregation, but it was 17 words from her father that taught her the lesson fully in an instant. A child made a racist joke which provoked a reaction in Rhoda. Frank saw her reaction & said:

The black isn’t going to go away. You can do anything you want in the world.

Frank Roberts Junior

….to which Rhoda thought…

Oh yeah, I will fight it.

Rhoda Roberts

But he also said to her first:

Play the game, get settled & after that, you can start to re-educate.

Frank Roberts Junior

For generations, it was protocol for Indigenous people to welcome newcomers to Country. The protocol had no formal name. In Nimbin in 1973, they hosted the Aquarius Festival, which Rhoda attended. Her Uncle offered to “sing that Country”:

To me that was the first ‘Welcome (To Country)’ & he set a precedent that we should be welcoming people onto our Country.

Rhoda Roberts

Teachers & schoolmates were constantly reminding us to remember our place because we were little darkies. Until the day I left, I was told I shouldn’t get too big for my boots.

Rhoda Roberts, speaking in 2003

When Rhoda was at high school, a teacher reinforced the sense that she had the capacity to do anything, when he praised her essay & story-writing ability. Leaving school in Year 9, her dream was to be a journalistic author & violinist but according to “the game” played in Lismore, “that wasn’t possible”. She got a job working at a checkout in Lismore’s Woolworths instead.

After the colour ban was lifted in the mid-70s, Roberts would often sit down, much to the chagrin of her friends, who thought it was a “dags’ hangout” at the restaurant that prior only allowed Indigneous people to buy takeway, telling her friends:

I want those waitresses coming to my table!

Rhoda Roberts

Rhoda’s parents had wished she wanted her to have a career in nursing, which Rhoda ended up quickly finding as a more ‘flexible’ option (in terms of “the game”) than journalism writing, musician or checkout worker, even if “the game” still discriminatorily limited her to being a nurse’s aid:

In those days they didn’t take Aboriginals into the 3-year general nurses’ training. I had to prove to those people that I could become a general nurse.

Rhoda Roberts

Lismore Base Hospital rejected her application to become a trainee nurse. The local matron claiming it was “a waste of money” to train Aboriginal people to become nurses. Rhoda’s mother managed to get her a job as a trainee nurse in Canterbury Hospital, graduating & rising to the rank of charge sister before getting herself a similar job at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital for 5 years, during which she once nursed Princess Margaret, but as Margaret Thatcher’ became the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, their National Health Service became beleaguered so Rhoda headed home where the public health system was better.

In 1982, she left nursing to travel the world before returning to Australia in 1988, where she was offered to audition for a film role. Despite not getting the role because she looked “too European” for what was an Aboriginal role, it inspired her to study acting. During her studies, she met Lydia Miller & they both dreamt of setting up an Aboriginal theatre company.

Having played “the game”, toured Australian theatres in her acting career & gotten settled, she began her mission to make her mark in re-educating non-Indigenous people on Indigenous culture after seeing Indigenous representation in stage theatre was not as good as she liked. Following the 1988 Survival Day protests, Rhoda said about her fellow Indigenous peoples:

They realised that while protest has a part to play, it wasn’t getting the message across. On stage, you can entertain, educate & bring your political concerns to the fore.

Rhoda Roberts

…so she co-founded the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust in 1988 with Lydia Miller, among others. It was around this time that the memory of Nimbin’s Aquarius Festival resurfaced & she coined the name Welcome To Country for the protocol that was unnamed for generations and formalised the practice in the arts world.

Everyone kept trying to correct it: ‘Welcome to the Country’ or ‘our Country’ & I said “It’s not ours. We live with it” so that’s how it became Welcome To Country.

It makes people feel special. It’s a bit like, if I’m going turn up at your house, I’m going to bring a good bottle of shiraz & a bunch of flowers. It’s good manners.

Rhoda Roberts

With the actors of the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust administrating it including Rhoda, the Trust grew before it got large enough to appoint people to administer it for them. The Trust folded within 6 months after those appointments in 1991.

My biggest regret was that we gave it up so quickly.

Rhoda Roberts

That year, she began sitting on boards, when she was appointed to the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board. She also entered broadcasting. First on radio before nearly immediately making the jump to television (TV) to become the very 1st Aboriginal TV host. During this period, she also became a documentarian.

In 1993, Sydney bid for The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad. One of the requirements of hosting it was to organise a cultural programme:

The Organising Committee Of The Olympic Games must organize a programme of cultural events which shall be submitted to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board for its prior approval.

Olympic Charter: Rule 44.1 (As of 24 September 1993)

Meant for the athletes, the cultural programme had to be held as long as the Olympic Village was open, which was from 2 weeks before the Opening Ceremony to 3 days after the Closing Ceremony, but more recent previous host cities had tried & failed to instead make the month-long cultural programme into a 4-year Cultural Olympiad, ignoring the fact the Winter Olympic Games, up until this point in time, were held about 6 months prior to the summer Games but within the same year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1986 decided to move the Winter Olymic Games to 2 years prior to the Summer Games. Nevertheless, the Cultural Commission of the Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Limited ignored the ignored the Winter Olympic Games: Nagano 1998 & decided that Sydney would have 4 Olympic Arts Festivals, with the final, main one held during the Games. The opening festival, which was to act as a “foundation stone” for the other 3 festivals & be officially the 1st Olympic event Sydney would host, was to be called The Festival Of The Dreaming & held in 1997:

The Festival Of The Dreaming in 1997 will expand from the expression of Australian Aboriginal cultures into a celebration of all the world’s indigenous societies.

The Festival Of The Dreaming will return to the beginnings of humanity. For the Australian Aborigines, members of the world’s oldest
living culture, the Dreaming was the dawn of all creation.

The program will include Aboriginal song, dance, story-telling, painting and craft. The Festival will also include the arts of other indigenous cultures of the world, especially those which have been threatened by conquest, imperialism or the pressures of advancing industrial society.

Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Limited

On September 24 1993, Sydney was awarded the host city rights for The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad in 2000 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The event was now an extraordinary Sydney Spectacular & the biggest multi-sport games Sydney had hosted since the British Empire Games in 1938.

Our initial attitude was: Don’t get involved in the Olympics. Then we thought, if we don’t, a white person will speak for us so we took control.

Rhoda Roberts, speaking in 2000

In December 1994, the Cultural Commission was transformed into the Cultural Olympiad Committee of the newly formed Sydney Organising Committee Of The Olympic Games (SOCOG). Lydia Millar was a member of this Cultural Olympiad Committee.

In 1995, Rhoda co-founded the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards (The Deadly Awards), which were held in Sydney until their cancellation in 2014.

In April of 1995, the role of Cultural Olympiad Director was advertised, which in July. was awarded to arts consultant, Jonah Jones, picked out of a field of over 40 & a shortlist of 5, including former Festival Of Sydney director, the late Stephen Hall. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, it was critical in Jonah’s view that the control and authorship for The Festival Of The Dreaming should be Aboriginal. Rhoda was selected by Jonah from a “very strong field of applicants” in November 1995 as the producer for the opening festival.  Initially, she declined the offer.

It took quite a few meetings before I felt safe this wasn’t just a token gesture – that authorship & control would be in the hands of Indigenous people. Then, there was the possibility of a non-Indigenous person getting the job & with all good intentions, it would still have become a folk-loric Festival. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

Rhoda Roberts, speaking in 1998

Rhoda then accepted the role entering the world of Sydney Spectaculars (which we will now focus on) & becoming the 1st female producer of an Australian international arts festival, which, was later finalised to be held from the 26th of March 1997, with the formal opening on the 14th of September & mostly ending on the 6th of October 1997, though 1 event would not finish until the 15th of February 1999 due to an extension! Rhoda said it would allow Indigenous Australia to “to show our expertise”, promising:

A world-class festival with Indigenous groups from around the world & also from within Australia, represented – groups many Australians may not know exist or haven’t seen before.

Rhoda Roberts

5 days later, she started the job by first consulting all the major arts communities in Australia.

`Initially, we copped flak from some communities for being involved but on the whole, people were supportive. Indigenous communities felt as long as the performances were culturally appropriate & as long as they had dignity, then Indigenous performers should go hell for leather.

Rhoda Roberts, speaking in 2000.

The next month, a budget of $5.6 million was allocated with $14.4 million later coming from non-SOCOG sources. 50% of the initial budget had been allocated for marketing, administration & staffing, with the other 50% for programming. Whether it was ancient Indigenous stories told by Elders or new ones told at the Festival Of The Dreaming, Rhoda wanted them all to live on:

I can’t just have a 3-week celebration. I have got to have a lot more because I have been given this responsibility. It’s the best opportunity we’ve ever had.

I am hoping to commission an Aboriginal musician to compose for a symphony, to have an Aboriginal Shakespearean production, Aboriginal operas and even a ballet.

I am looking for those mainstream genres which Aboriginal artists want to try, to give them an opportunity they may not have had but for which they certainly have the talents & the skills.

I would like to have that sort of control because we have never had that opportunity in such a mainstream event before. I don’t mind if it’s the Australian Ballet but I would like to see an Aboriginal choreographer.

I hope there will be a legacy if those relationships can be developed through The Festival.

Rhoda Roberts

Rhoda keenly used the word ‘Olympics’ as a lever to get Aboriginal artists inside establishment institutions & while the Aboriginal-composed symphony and Aboriginal-choreographed Australian Ballet didn’t happen in the end, a turbulent period for Indigenous relations within Australia was about to begin. On the 30th of April 1996, Pauline Hanson became a member of the Australian Parliament. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, from then on, every time Hanson decried Aboriginal Australia, The Festival Of The Dreaming‘s small office was inundated with calls asking how they can help.

Nevertheless, on the 3rd of June 1996, the framework was announced to be in place to fully support the programming & planning for The Festival Of The Dreaming. However, by the 29th of October, the unfinalised program was starting to leak to the media, including such items as an exhibition of Gamillaroi trees (while consultation was still ongoing, some Gamillaroi community members strongly objected to it & this idea didn’t happen in the end). With Hanson only just making her controversial maiden speech just over a month earlier, the issue of whether or not The Festival was consulting enough with the Indigenous community was about to make the news.

Rhoda held a forum on The Festival at the then University Of NSW’s former Centre For Olympic Studies. At its conclusion, she took questions:

To date we have had no discussions with SOCOG. There are whole issues of access to cultural sites & materials. There are protocols & they have been ignored again. The process of marginalisation has begun. We are being exploited as a people again by this process. Here is a way for Australians to address a lot of issues and it has displayed a deliberate wish not to.

Jenny Munro, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council Chairperson

It was a very difficult decision to take this job. We are looking at talking to Elders before we move any further. I will take all of that on board, Jen. You give me a phone call sister-girl.

Rhoda Roberts

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald:

A lot of New South Wales people don’t even know what The Festival Of The Dreaming is about. There has not been enough consultation & I have heard that from plenty of artists but in part that is just the nature of The Festival beast. There isn’t much money. It’s all meant to be goodwill and sponsorship & with Indigenous affairs the way they are at the moment, a lot of that goodwill just isn’t there.

Bronwyn Bancroft, Artist

On November 7, arts organisations met with Rhoda to discuss their part in The Festival Of The Dreaming. A week later, funding approval for the AUD$500,000 dance-opera Gauguin, devised by Lyndon Terracini, which were to be a part of The Festival, was leaked, though in the end, the dance-opera didn’t happen.

Rhoda had pressed SOCOG to appoint Indigenous Gamarada (“friends”) for all Olympic events since she got The Festival role. SOCOG eventually got Lydia Miller from their Cultural Olympiad Committee to appoint a panel of Aboriginal Elders who chose 6 with an equal number of “reserves” to represent the host Sydney Countries/nations: Eora, Kuring-gai, Dharug & Tharawal. Their appearances necessitated the mainstream introduction of Acknowledgment Of Countries, where non-Indigenous people acknowledged Country and the Elders or Traditional Owners thereof at events located there. Indigenous people from a different nation/Country were doing this already as it has long been in their culture.

I wanted to highlight we have Elder statesmen who are our equivalent of the Lord Mayor.

Rhoda Roberts

On March 26, 1997, the first event of The Festival Of The Dreaming begun, fulfilling a promise that recent host cities failed to deliver – a 4-year Cultural Olympiad. The 1st event was EarthStrokes – a program of 25 exhibitions (with 1 in Canberra!) & live visual art making, which ran, in the end, until the 15th of February 1999! The 1st exhibition to open was a bark painting exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum titled John Bulun Bulun – The Welcoming Of Strangers. With a total of nearly 300 individual events, other aspects of The Festival Of The Dreaming, apart from EarthStrokes, were:

• Paperbark – A literature program, held in tribute to Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Kevin Gilbert & Jack Davis, at the State Library Of New South Wales (NSW) from 18-23 September 1997 that featured readings, storytelling, forums, launches & a special event commemorating the life of David Unaipon.
• The Pickchas – A program of 50 films of varying lengths & genres held from 22-28 September 1997 at the Museum Of Sydney (documentaries) & The Dendy Cinema (rest), with the latter also hosting an Opening Night Party, Makem Talk (filmmaker forum) & a post-film Supper Club.
• Stage – 20 productions of ceremony, acting, music, dancing & singing held at various venues from 8 September-12 October 1997: Awakening, Ngundalelah Godotgai, Wirid-Jiribin, Fish, Nanga Mai Dreaming, the Baramada Rock concert, Black Mary, Mimi: A Kunwinjku Creation Story, Nathanial Storm, Bidenjarreb Pinjarra, Up The Ladder, the Wimmin’s Business series, the Dancestry series, the Yabun Maori & Samoan music series, Arsarnerit – The Northern Lights, Fia Ola, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Makin’ Tracks series & 2 programs of shamanistic rituals from the Changmu Dance Company.
• Bar Badu – post-Sydney Theatre venue shows’ beverages bar with comedic & drag entertainment from 8 September-12 October 1997 (except Sundays).

Notably, Awakening was the 1st smoking & cleansing ceremony to be held at Tyubow-Gale (Bennelong Point) since 1788, the 1st major Indigenous ceremony held in Sydney since a Darling Harbour corroboree in the 1830s, the 2nd Aboriginal performance held at the Sydney Opera House in its (at this point) 24-year history & would later prove to be inspirational for another opening ceremony while Ngundalelah Godotgai was the 1st ever translation of a major Western text (Waiting For Godot) into an Aboriginal language and the world premiere performance of a play in Bundjalung language & Wirid-Jiribin was performed in Tharawal language, which had not been heard publicly in 150 years. Fish also was the 1st Aboriginal production to receive a Sydney Opera House season. A Midsummer’s Night Dream was also performed with an all-Aboriginal cast in Elizabethan costume.

For Mimi & events at the Sydney Opera House with an intermission, bush tucker would be served to or made available for purchase by attendees, the former event sourced from Nganbra Bush Tucka. Nanga Mai Dreaming also had abundant intermission entertainment.

The Festival Of The Dreaming featured 10 foreign countries including Pacific ones and more than 400 individual artists & companies including 12 dance companies, all working collaboratively with SOCOG & Australia’s foremost arts bodies and institutions. Rhoda said The Festival uncovered forgotten aspects of Aboriginal history with some events showcasing traditional dance steps not seen by non-Aboriginal people in nearly 200 years.

There was also an AUD$2000 commemorative limited-edition (99) portfolio of prints sold called Origins made by 12 leading Aboriginal artists (including Queenie McKenzie, Treahna Hamm, Ian Abdulla, Karen Casey, Dennis Nona, Arone Meeks & Judy Watson), covered with a title page produced by John and Joy Tonkin of the Australian School Of Book Arts in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), encased in a box created by artist Robin Tait which features another work by Yilpi Ulah, commissioned by SOCOG from Studio One Print Workshop in the ACT.

During The Festival Of The Dreaming, on the 27th of May, Rhoda addressed Australia’s National Press Club in her Festival role on the 30th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, where she spoke about personal experiences, her family’s history of activism for Aboriginal rights & the relationship between Aboriginal arts and Australian politics, saying that to Indigenous people, excellence rather than competition would mark their contribution to The Festival, which she hoped to be entertaining to “ordinary” people & called on all Australians to adopt “the spirit of 1967”. She also showed her great-grandfather’s “dog-tag”, a certificate of exemption which permitted some Australian Aboriginals to integrate freely with the British community.

(weeping) So many people are hurt…

Rhoda Roberts

28 day later, on June 23, in the lead-up to the main timing of The Festival Of The Dreaming, Rhoda unveiled The Festival‘s official poster, made in collaboration with Adrian Adams:

Notably, the poster is mainly of Rhoda’s great-grandfather’s “dog-tag” with his identification photo attached to the bottom-right.

This is a symbol of the future: ‘We’re looking at you. For the 1st time we’re not being interpreted. We’re telling you how it is’.

The photo belies expectations of what an Aboriginal person was at that time & even what an Aboriginal person is now. It undercuts stereotype. There’s no such thing as 1 exclusive Aboriginal look. We are many.

Barrie Kosky has his glasses. I have my grandfather’s certificate.

Rhoda Roberts

On July 9, 1997, the 2nd exhibition of EarthStrokes opened, again at the Australian National Maritime Museum: People Of The Old Sea – A Tiwi Ceremony. In late August-early September, 8 more exhibitions opened at various venues before the stage program begun on September 8 & the main portion of The Festival kicked off on September 14:

The main portion of The Festival finished on October 6, exceeding the box office target of 35,000 ticket sales & making a surplus – which went into the next Olympic Art Festival, A Sea Change – especially as The Festival came AUD$111,000 under budget:

We achieved what I always intended to achieve, which was to
change the stereotypes. This is a tip of the iceberg. People got
a taste of what indigenous works are about in the 90s…It
was unique & it was very unknown. The relationships that
have been established will continue & have been nurtured during this process.

We’ve had families who came down for the Awakening
Ceremony who have never been to the Opera House in their
lives before & have come back every weekend, black &
white. That’s a real achievement because that icon that sits
on the Harbour is for everyone & should not be perceived
as an elitist venue.

We have set precedents & people will view Aboriginal work in a different light from now on in terms of the quality & the diversity we have within our arts.

Rhoda Roberts

The stage program finished on the 12th of October 1997. Rhoda then prepared a report on The Festival for the IOC & her contract for The Festival ended in December 1997. Since 1997, Rhoda dreamt of starting an annual version of The Festival & started looking for sponsors.

It’s not easy. “Funding is always the hard question. Everyone likes the idea but it costs. The more mercenary point of view is that The Festival created 700 jobs & I want to do the same again. It also means developing young artists…& I want to do that again.

Rhoda Roberts, speaking in 2002

The next month, Rhoda became a trustee of the Sydney Opera House (until 2006 inclusive) before becoming a councillor for Australia Day In New South Wales in February (until 2004 inclusive), probably as its 1st Indigenous member. Rhoda said on the latter appointment:

It was the hardest thing to decide to do. At 1st, it felt like I had sold myself to the devil but I think you can talk all you want, it won’t make any difference unless you’re inside the system that has the power to change things.

Rhoda Roberts

In March, Rhoda became an Indigenous consultant to SOCOG & started formally judging art as well as winning a $4,000 Facilitators Award at the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards for her work for The Festival with the judges saying The Festival brought a sense of “richness” of traditional indigenous culture &…

…a pungent taste of what it means to be an Aboriginal in Australia in the late 20th century. The quality of the performances, the intelligence of the programming & the creation of a genuine sense of a festival with meaning and a heart are all tributes to Rhoda Roberts’ skill & sensitivity.

Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards: Facilitators Award Judges

In May 1998, the IOC Coordination Commission visited Sydney & the chairman, Dr Jacques Rogge, said he was pleased with The Festival Of The Dreaming‘s outcome.

I used to say ‘Please don’t do that, Loey’ but she didn’t want me to worry. ‘They’d get a fight from me if they tried anything’ she’d say.

Rhoda Roberts

Late July 1998 became the start of a tragic period in Rhoda’s life. It was the period her twin sister, Lois Roberts, a regular hitch-hiker, went missing, last seen hitchhiking outside Nimbin Police Station by a Nimbin Police officer, apparently for the destination of Lismore. Rhoda, from then on, prayed for her safe return. Rhoda distributed missing persons posters, door-knocked Nimbin, all the time hounding Lismore Police to investigate her disappearance. Rhoda’s mother, Muriel, said Police did not take her daughter’s disappearance seriously for the 1st “couple of days” until the family proved she hadn’t returned to her home & not probably “gone walkabout” as the Police claimed, though Police maintain that Lois wasn’t reported missing until a week after her disappearance. An alternative story was told by Rhoda, who is adamant her younger brother went to a Police station the day she failed to return home:

Finally, Harry M. Miller, who is a friend of mine, called up & said he couldn’t believe the attitude of the Police and offered me a helicopter to start our own search. “Harry being Harry, he wanted to get some press involved, to get a story out but it worked. Virtually, from then on, the Police started to take it all a bit more seriously.

Rhoda Roberts

According to Rhoda, 4 days later, Police filed a missing persons report and another 4 days after that, they began looking for Lois. Rhoda was then told by Police, that they had fears of foul play.

In September 1998, she became Artistic & Cultural Adviser to SOCOG’s Ceremonies Director, Ric Birch. Ric, working with overall artistic director for the Opening Ceremony, David Atkins, wanted the biggest corroboree ever held with performers holding & throwing flaming boomerangs while dressed in the colours of the ochre palate, forming giant versions of famous Indigenous dot paintings in Stadium Australia – but this didn’t sit well with Rhoda. Before May 2000, Rhoda was appointed co-creative director (with Stephen Page) & cultural producer of the Indigenous segment in the Opening Ceremony. However, until then, the role was top secret & for a time, Rhoda and Stephen had an emotional battle for Indigenous authenticity, not cliche:

There were ideas of famous artworks being portrayed on the ground, but it was seen as a postcard approach. Stephen & Rhoda wanted a human identity, a face to these groups.

Peter England, ‘Awakening’ Designer

They really fought for what they wanted. “Rhoda & Stephen walked out of meetings in tears when there was talk of flaming boomerangs & dot paintings. They wanted traditional stories, not a commercial version of Aboriginal Australia.

Anonymous ‘Ceremonies’ Staff Member

1 idea that did remain though was the use of stilt walkers, inspired from The Festival Of The Dreaming’s production, Mimi: A Kunwinjku Creation Story, which Ric Birch had attended.

In mid-January 1999, Lois was tragically confirmed, after a postmortem examination, to be the body found by a bushwalker, a few days earlier, 10 metres off the remote Nixon Fire Trail in the Whian Whian State Forest. Forensic officers found she was held captive for about 8 days at a minimum before being murdered. NSW Police formed Strike Force Metz immediately after the confirmation, but her murderer has still not been found, the investigation been complicated by the large number of itinerants drawn to the Lismore-Nimbin area as well as the length of the search for, state & location of her body. Anyone with information should call Lismore Police on 02 6626 0599 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

We are hoping that now the deceased has been identified & we have a Task Force then more information will soon be forthcoming which will assist the investigation.

Detective Sergeant Garry Ducasse, Lismore Police

She was in thick, thick bush, off a fire trail with a cattle gate. If you didn’t know this place well, there’s no way you’d drive in there but when I went up there to see it, my 1st thoughts were it was he wanted her to be found.

Rhoda Roberts

On the 15th of February 1999, the Festival Of The Dreaming closed when the final event, EarthStrokes‘ NGARAMANG BAYUMI music & dance exhibtion at the Powerhouse Museum closed its doors, having been open since September 15, 1997. The Sydney Morning Herald‘s James Waites said The Festival had great integrity:

Thrilling

 James Waites, ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ Theatre Critic

…while The Sun-Herald‘s Pamela Payne said, it was:

A time of great vitality & artistry, of learning & of wonder.

Pamela Payne, ‘The Sun-Herald’ Journalist

Rhoda’s former boss, gave it a:

Win

Craig Hassall, SOCOG Arts Festivals & Events General Manager

Rhoda’s original boss, Jonah Jones, gave the best verdict though:

One of the best festivals Australia has ever seen.

Jonah Jones

The same month, Rhoda became a webcaster.

In May 1999, Rhoda was also a judge & Master Of The Winner Announcement Ceremony for Sydney 2000’s Share The Spirit Australian Year 1-6 primary school children’s poster art competition, where there were 33,834 entries – the winning entry being from 7-year-old Erin Hetherington from Flinders Park Primary School in Albany, Western Australia. Erin’s painting was a self-portrait of herself carrying the Olympic torch & riding on the back of an emu bound for Sydney: 

Erin’s painting impressed all the judges with her use of colour & Indigenous artistic styles. Her creative imagination portrayed the Olympic Torch & showcased a unique Australian native bird.

Her description that she was headed for Sydney & the Games showed a youthful interpretation of how these Games are for all Australians.

Rhoda Roberts

In October 1999, it was revealed that the 2000 Olympic Arts Festival (the final Cultural Olympiad festival) would formally open on August 18, 2000 with Tubowgule – The Meeting Of The Waters, co-directed by Rhoda Roberts & Stephen Page. It was a series of free Indigenous welcoming ceremonies at 3 sites of historical significance to Australia’s Indigenous communities: Congwong Beach (dawn), under a big fig tree in a men’s business area at the Royal Botanic Gardens (midday) & Sydney Opera House’s Southern Forecourt (dusk).

This is the culmination of the Awakening, the cleansing of the city, to continue that celebration. It’s the beginning of the journey. We smoke the area which then cleanses it to continue a journey. This process allows a new era to begin that also regenerates the spirit to be reawakened.

Rhoda Roberts

By April, the Opening Ceremony Indigenous segment was now completely in the hands of Rhoda Roberts & Stephen Page:

Ric and David have stepped back & allowed us to do it as we have for thousands of years.

Rhoda Roberts

…though in September 2001, Ric Birch later claimed it was “our mutual insistence” that it would not be a ““tourist” corroboree, something that contradicts descriptions of earlier meetings.

In April 2000, with the segment secretly named Awakening, top secret auditions had begun:

Awakening needs a lot of dedication & rehearsal. We want to show respect for Elders and what we are about & we want to highlight the new generation. Never have we involved so many dancers together. It’s like 1 big Stompem Ground. We want to show the world we are 1 nation. Whether we are blond & blue-eyed or brown, we are all 1 mob.

Rhoda Roberts addressing the audition participants

In a secret (at the time, not to be published for another 5 months) interview with The Australian, Rhoda revealed that they had cast women from the Central Desert:

They are amazing women & they are unique. No one else in the world does their breast paint or the dances they do. We wanted to honour our ancient culture. From a logistical point of view, getting so many women from so many language groups together for 1 stomp is very difficult. From a choreographic angle, although they come from different remote communities, there are similarities in dance within those areas. This is the centre of the country, the centre of mother.

Rhoda Roberts

In May 2000, it was finally officially revealed that Rhoda was the co-creative director (with Stephen Page) & cultural producer for the Indigenous segment in the Opening Ceremony.

I was getting abusive phone calls & death threats. I would wake up in the morning to find human faeces on my doorstep and notes like, ‘I know where your daughter goes to school.’ This was from people within the Aboriginal community who were upset that we were going to welcome people to this Country for the Olympics.

I wasn’t about to have some Johnny-come-lately tell me I was a sell-out.

Rhoda Roberts

On August 18, 2000, Tubowgule – The Meeting Of The Waters was held, formally opening the 2000 Olympic Arts Festival:

On September 15, 2000, the Opening Ceremony of The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad was held at Stadium Australia. It seemed to have a deliberate theme of reconciliation running through the show, which might have seemed to be due to Rhoda’s presence (She had been trying to get a “dignified, traditional but also contemporary Aboriginal theme” included in the show for the past year) but after the Games concluded, The Sydney Morning Herald, revealed that Ric Birch said it was actually “the unconscious product of an attempt by himself & David Atkins to deliver a message of inclusion”. Notably, the choice of Cathy Freeman as the Cauldron Lighter was not theirs but of Australian Olympic Committee President, John Coates, with the permission of the NSW Olympics Minister & SOCOG President, The Honourable Micheal Knight. The Prelude to the Ceremony included “a simple but dignified ‘Welcome To Friends‘ ceremony, presented by the traditional Indigenous landowners of the Homebush Bay site”, which likely was Rhoda’s suggestion, following on from the introduction of Gamarada in 1997. The Opening Ceremony officially begun at 7pm & 17 minutes into it, the 8-minute Indigenous segment titled Awakening begun:

Awakening spirits guide our hero girl to Djakapurra
Munyarryun, The Songman, who calls the new generation of spirits,

Indigenous people from across Australia & the Torres Strait Islands have united for this Ceremony, to awaken this site at Homebush & welcome the world.

As the spirits awaken, the Songman sings ‘Gultha‘ (the smoking song). The spirits are drawn to the heartbeat of the land by the chant and dance of the women of the Central Desert singing the ‘Inma Kungkarankalpa‘, (The 7 Emu Sisters). The women rebirth the land & awaken its spirit as ochre fills the air. As song custodian, Don Nundihirribala sings ‘Dhunbalar‘ (the flag songs) which calls men & women of Arnhem Land from the communities of Numbulwar, Yirrkala, Ramingining & Manningrida, they dance the traditional bush march, which once welcomed the Maccassan traders some 4 centuries ago.

To the percussion of Kulups rattling, the men and women from the Torres Strait Islands dance, ‘Aumuller‘, the rhythm dance, that celebrates the peoples and energies of the Torres Strait Islands. Our Songmen then begins the Dhum Dhum dance of the red kangaroo, as the Koorie clan of NSW dance to the clap of boomerangs. Young men & women, the new generation of the host lands, revive ancient steps celebrating their survival & welcoming the newcomers to their land.

The clans then gather around drums of burning eucalyptus leaves, rekindling kinship & cleansing this site on Darug lands. The birthing of the Gjorn Gjorn, helpers of the ancestral creation spirit, the Wandjina, from the Kimberley Ranges, hover. As the clans unite, they rekindle & demonstrate their community, kinship & spiritual relationships with the land, paying respect & honour to the Aboriginal language groups of Sydney.

As the clans unite, they birth a giant Wandjina ancestral creation myth spirit & lawmaker, symbolising the unity of Indigenous people.

‘The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000 – Opening Ceremony’ Media Guide

The Awakening segment concluded with the Wandjina flinging a lightning bolt across the stadium with a roar of thunder to ignite the next segment. You can watch the segment here below (20:00-32:01):

…the heartbeat behind the whole Ceremony.

Ignatious Jones, ‘Welcome’ Segment Director, on the ‘Awakening’ segment

Just fantastic. Fantastic

Garry Wilkinson, Channel 7 Commentator

Regarding the giant Wandjina:

It’s been a problem with the Board over our budget, explaining the need for bigger props in Sydney.

David Atkins, ‘The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000 – Opening Ceremony’ Artistic Director

The Daily Telegraph reported people outside Stadium Australia post-Ceremony thought the Awakening segment was “a sop to Aboriginal activists who had blackmailed organisers with threats of burning cars and international shame” but, as you can see from above, there was no factual truth in those people’s opinions. In the end, The Daily Telegraph also reported that more than the majority of Australians found the segment “transcended politics”.

Awesome

Miranda Devine, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ journalist on the ‘Awakening’ segment

Ric Birch was adamant that Awakening was the key to the Opening Ceremony’s success:

The authenticity of the Aboriginal component of the Ceremony gave us the moral authority to move on from there. It was not a token gesture. It was authentic and that resonated around the world & provided the foundation for the whole Ceremony.

Ric Birch

The NSW Government, led by a letter from the NSW Premier, Bob Carr, published a giant ‘Thank You’ message in the September 23 edition of The Australian, thanking all the Opening Ceremony artists while the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission chairman, Geoff Clark, also congratulated Rhoda, Stephen Page & Ric Birch in person, at least verbally:

The recognition of our culture in the creation scenes at the Opening Ceremony, the smoking ceremony, acknowledgment of our flag & symbols demonstrated true & proper respect for our people. It was a celebration of our survival. A milestone on the road to true reconciliation from which there should be no turning back.

Geoff Clark, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Chairman

The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad closed on October 1. A month later, in November, NSW Olympics Minister & SOCOG President, The Honourable Micheal Knight, controversially attempted to give the creative credit for the whole Opening Ceremony to its artistic director, David Atkins, probably due to Mr Knight’s long feud with Ceremonies Director & David’s boss, Ric Birch. His title of Artistic Director does seem to justify the credit but most of the Ceremony‘s ideas were developed before, even up to 6 years prior to, his May 1999 appointment, especially:

`It’s infuriating to have David take any credit for Awakening. No one should take credit for that except Stephen Page & Rhoda Roberts.

Anonymous Insider

This article does not suggest David Atkins took Awakening‘s credit but merely The Honourable Micheal Knight attributed credit for that segment to him.

On Australia Day In Sydney 2001 – Visions, Rhoda introduced a Welcome To Country. Held in Farm Cove for an hour from 8:30am, it utilised the vessels, Tribal Warrior & the James Craig.

Back to Rhoda’s twin sister, by March 2001, Strike Force Metz had been disbanded & an inquest into the murder of her was postponed at least twice, apparently due to a lack of manpower, because new evidence had come to light & until a local magistrate could free up enough time to hear the evidence. Rhoda was angry, especially given it had been 2 years since her sister’s death & wanted the NSW Police to push for the inquest especially as the possibility of a serial killer had not been ruled out:

If there is a serial killer out there & I believe there is, what if another poor girl gets caught up in this? I’m not happy with the Police. I don’t know why an inquest has been planned & then held up.

In a regional community, Police resources are limited & I fully understand that but we have gone to the Police with leads and they’ve never ever been investigated. 1 person who we believe may have been involved has never been interviewed.

The thing that angers me is they never contact me, I’m the one who has to hound them. You’d think they’d jump at investigating a case like this in a town like this. It’s got to be better than writing out speeding tickets.

In the end, she was my sister & she’s dead. I don’t get another sister & when I’m out driving, I’m constantly seeing girls standing on the side of the roads hitchhiking. That’s the nature of this area. I always think ‘`For God’s sake, stop that. You have no idea what can happen’.

Rhoda Roberts

A year after the Opening Ceremony, when a documentary on the Awakening segment by Peter Rogers premiered on television, Rhoda was still having nightmares over preparing the segment:

`I am, I am. “The logistics were just bloody incredible. There were just so many things that could have gone wrong.

I like to think that it was an Awakening for the whole country. I think there was a sense by Australians watching the segment of `’Yeah, that’s us too. This is Australia.’ That was a huge relief for us because organising it had been such a big leap of faith. I mean, at the time we were planning it, we were all going through the Pauline Hanson thing.

Rhoda Roberts

After watching the documentary, Rhoda said:

The last thing on our minds when we were trying to get everything ready was that we were being filmed or that there’d ever be a documentary coming out. “Now I look at it and watch myself & think `’Oh God, I could have spared a second to put on some lipstick’.

Rhoda Roberts

In 2002, a coronial inquest was held into Rhoda’s sister’s murder but a suppression order was placed on the proceedings, leaving the case open to further investigation. Tragically, the same year, Rhoda’s Aboriginal cousin, Lucy McDonald, vanished from her Lismore home, never to be seen again.

For Australia Day In Sydney 2002 – National Spirit, the Welcome To Country was expanded to include a land-based ceremony near the Man O’ War Steps but it was also halved in duration.

In July 2002, Rhoda directed the 4th Sydney Indigenous Film Festival at the Parramatta Riverside Theatres before in mid-November 2002, she announced she finally found a sponsor to create an annual version of The Festival Of The Dreaming: the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, who sponsored no more than AUD$500,000. Under a different name, Sydney Dreaming & created by Public Event Group of which Rhoda was creative director, it was announced as a free weekend Indigenous Australia festival at Sydney Olympic Park that Rhoda would direct in mid-November, with a 2-month lead-in, from September 17, of cultural workshops:

There’s always been a fear in Australia because what people have often seen of Indigenous people is usually negative & its only recently people are seeing the positives. There’s nothing to be frightened of & lots to rejoice in.

It is our current loss of culture through the natural death of our Elders – people who hold the keys to our ancestry, ceremony & songlines – that should be our focus.

Australians are becoming increasingly interested in the ancient stories, songlines & traditional customs of our Indigenous peoples.

A lack of ongoing public events touching mainstream audiences has not allowed people the opportunity to express their respect & enthusiasm until now.

It’s a way to spend a weekend in Sydney with your family, with your kids, to experience bush culture, the arts & life of different Aboriginal communities. This year, the people from Mornington are coming & the Kimberley.

“I mean, everyone saw the Wandjina in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, but nobody knew the story & this weekend, you can find out.

I wanted a festival that was contemporary because I don’t think there’s many elements in any of the major festivals that reflect what Indigenous culture is today. From the success of The Festival Of The Dreaming, I thought people do want to know about this … for us it’s a great way to tell the stories of this Country.

I have a dream that 1 day … little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls & walk together as sisters and brothers.

Their knowledge needs to be told, passed on to the new generations of both black & white youth so that all who live in this wonderful Country can know its origins & the secrets it holds.

Rhoda Roberts (with apologies to Martin Luther King Junior)

Sydney Dreaming finished on November 17. A week later, Rhoda directed a Kaju Ceremony for the International Year Of The Mountains – Celebrating Mountains: Family Picnic Day at Lake Jindabyne.

For Australia Day In Sydney 2003 – Flying Our Flag, the Welcome To Country was replaced (likely because people attend their local Australia Day events & hence a low attendance occurred because most were already from that Country) with a 20 minute awakening & mourning ceremony named Woggan-Ma-Gule, artistically directed by Rhoda. It also recognised the original shoreline of Sydney Harbour & was held at 8am on the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Band Lawn:

It is incredibly moving to perform on this site. We have come a long way.

I think it is hugely significant that the day is starting with this ceremony. This ceremony recognises that Sydney was one of the 1st places inhabited by settlers but is also of great significance to Indigenous people.

..the new ceremony would educate people about the
traditional culture of Sydney as well as help to strengthen relationships between Indigenous & non-Indigenous communities.

Rhoda Roberts

I would have swum the Harbour to be here. This is an important moment in Australian history.

Marie Bashir, NSW Governor

Rhoda also added a new Indigenous concert to the Australia Day In Sydney program, titled Yabun, held at Waverley Park.

In May 2003, she was director of the Message Sticks festival at the Sydney Opera House, which included a free event titled Sunday Free For All, that she personally hosted. She later directed an expanded version of the festival in 2012 & 2013 before shortening it & renaming it as Homeground.

In October 2003, she directed the Earth segment of the Rugby World Cup: Australia 2003 -Opening Ceremony, which you can watch below (13:15-20:41):

That same year, Sydney Dreaming was moved to early December & shortened to just 2 nights.

For Australia Day In Sydney 2004 – Make It Even Aussier, Yabun was moved to Redfern Park & Woggan-Ma-Gule, thanks to a sponsor, Medallist Developments, was expanded by 10 minutes. Rhoda said although Aboriginal people would not forget the wrongs done to them, it was time to focus on the positives:

The reality is that Australia Day is a national day of remembrance. We want the Woggan-Ma-Gule ceremony to begin a national day that has often been divided. It’s not going to go away & I don’t want it to be us and them. It is a chance for us to celebrate our ability to continue these traditions & a way for all Australians to continue to move forward together.

Rhoda Roberts

The NSW Governor, Marie Bashir, having attended the inaugural Woggan-Ma-Gule, said she was glad to have lived long enough to have seen it:

It is so appropriate that we have come here together. It is more moving than words can possibly describe. One couldn’t help but identify with the feelings of the First Australians. This is the way Australia Day should always be.

Marie Bashir, NSW Governor

I really appreciated this. It was a wonderful way to start the day.

Judy Burkholder, an American tourist

This was very moving. There was so much spirit there.

Christian Trevgoda, a French tourist

Woggan-Ma-Gule 2004 was attended by “hundreds”.

Both Yabun & Woggan-Ma-Gule still run today, now held at Victoria Park & at Barangaroo Reserve respectively with the former being turned into the largest 1-day Indigenous Australia festival in the country while the latter has grown to a duration of 45 minutes & been renamed WulgulOra. Nowadays, both events are livestreamed globally with WulgulOra broadcast nationally live as well.

In 2005, Rhoda moved Sydney Dreaming to Queensland, where it was simply renamed as The Dreaming & expanded to 4 days to include international Indigenous nations & overnight accomodation. The event probably didn’t work in Sydney as, despite its central location, Sydney Olympic Park is a very isolated location to start new events from scratch & when the Park withdrew its sponsorship, well Rhoda simply moved it to where money was being offered from:

I’ve been flogging this festival for 8 years. I even had a 10-year plan. (laughs)

Rhoda Roberts

In May 2007, a film about Rhoda & Lois titled A Sister’s Love was released.

Around September 2007, Rhoda was appointed Creative Director for Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2008-2010, with the appointment announced in April 2008:

I’m so excited to be part of the City Of Sydney New Year’s Eve team, which is behind one of the finest displays of fireworks anywhere in the world.

I’ve had the opportunity and privilege to work on a number of major events in Australia & internationally but to help create a little magic for Australians on Sydney New Year’s Eve 2008 will be something really special.

I think Sydneysiders, visitors & those watching the show from home or around the world will see a wonderful celebration with bright coloured fireworks, incredible music & great effects that will bring people together to have a great time, celebrate & look forward.

The Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations tell a story about who we are as Australians & are one of the worlds greatest gatherings of celebration, hope, friendship and family.

I’m so excited to bring my creativity & ideas to this event to make it a magical night for Sydneysiders & visitors from across Australia & around the world.

Rhoda Roberts

In mid-July 2008, Rhoda was the Indigenous Coordinator for World Youth Day 2008: Sydney 2008 -“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you“.

In early December 2008, Rhoda announced the theme for Sydney NYE2008 as Creation. It saw the introduction of pyrotechnic displays between 9pm & Midnight, which for the 2008 edition, she called The Building Of The Creation Storm, the storm being the name of the Midnight Fireworks. It essentially involved ‘lightning’ firing at 5 points through the night. After each point, the Bridge Effect changed & revealed more. First, it started as an evening star at the end of the 9pm Family Fireworks, to symbolise the end of the year, before at Midnight, it turned into the Sun in a moment of Creation, symbolising the birth of a new year, in 1 of the best opening sequences the Midnight Fireworks has seen. Most importantly, Rhoda saw the introduction of the Acknowledgment Of Country ceremony to the event at 8:40pm, making it the 3rd major pyrotechnic display of the night. The inaugural ceremony saw the late Geoffery Gurrumul Yunupingu perform his song Bapa to flares on the Bridge, scenic imagery projected on the Bridge’s pylons & flamethrowers on the barge in front of the Bridge.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, every culture has stories about a beginning. When you look at Indigenous culture, it always begins with a creation story. Creation is taking us back to the beginning. It is what links us. It’s about celebration but most importantly Creation connects us all. Creation is universal, magical & beautiful. The theme is a direct link to nature. The Creation Storm is about cleansing. It brings the new day, the new dawn, the new year. New Year’s Eve is, to me, a contemporary ritual. As we go into the countdown & the Fireworks begin, you are going to be taken to another world. There is 1 word that I think will describe what you will see … stunning.

I know I will probably shed a tear because 1 of the things that’s happening, the Acknowledgment Of Country, will touch me because that’s a really special thing.

Rhoda Roberts

In October 2009, Rhoda helped direct the Opening Ceremony for the World Masters Games: Sydney 2009 at Stadium Australia.

For NYE2009, a new broadcasting arrangement saw Channel 9 get the television (TV) rights for Rhoda’s last 2 editions & controversially, didn’t broadcast the Acknowledgment Of Country during both editions, despite being seen in the background with pyro being used on the Bridge. This showed that despite Rhoda’s efforts since 1997, Sydney’s main TV broadcaster still wouldn’t acknowledge that Sydney was on Eora Country. NYE2009 was themed Awaken The Spirit & the 1st Bridge Effect revealed during the Acknowledgement Of Country was a simple blue circle. At the end of the 9pm Family Fireworks onwards, a ring of fire enveloped the blue circle making it thicker, as ‘bouquets’ of fireworks fired 5 times thoughout the night. Just before Midnight, the blue circle was so thick, it became a blue moon (a nod to the blue moon happening that very night that edition) as during the Midnight Fireworks, the ring of fire turned the blue moon into yin-yang.

As a Bundjalung woman, my Aboriginal ancestors believe we need to gather & Awaken The Spirit each year, to stir up the spirit within our land, water, sky & of course, people. A new spirit for each year. To me, Sydney’s spirit is reflected by the colour blue. It’s soulful, sexy, sophisticated & matches our stunning blue harbour and gorgeous blue summer sky. This New Year’s Eve, what we want to do is celebrate & awaken that spirit for the new year ahead. It celebrates the arrival of the New Year. It celebrates new beginnings & most importantly, it celebrates unity.

Rhoda Roberts

Once again, Sydney has delivered a world class soulful, sexy and sophisticated event that celebrated Sydney’s great spirit of life and helped to Awaken The Spirit for 2010!

Yin & yang represents unity & Sydney New Year’s Eve is one of the world’s greatest gatherings.

Rhoda Roberts

For her final edition, nicknamed NYEX after the Roman numeral, she themed it Make Your Mark. During the 9pm Family Fireworks, an ‘X’ appeared on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, alternating with a ‘spot’ as in ‘X marks the spot’ but the spot of what? While briefly appearing as a face during the 9pm Family Fireworks, from its conclusion, fireworks in the shape of the letter ‘X’ exploded above Sydney Harbour 5 times throughout the night as the Bridge Effect shapeshifted from 10:15pm from the nuclear disarmament/peace symbol to a star to a target to an exclamation mark. During the Midnight Fireworks, a handprint marked the spot.

This year, the start of a new decade, we make a special mark. As a Bundjalung woman, I have been inspired by the tradition of Australia’s
Indigenous peoples of making their mark with rock art and larrakitj carvings. These are wonderful examples of how people mark their
own moments in the flow of history & leave their stories as a gift for future generations.

While enjoying the night, reflect on what you can do to Make Your Mark for a better future in the exciting decade to come. Our actions leave lasting impressions, so come on, celebrate & Make Your Mark.

Rhoda Roberts

For centuries, my ancestors have marked the passing of time and history with Indigenous traditions like rock markings and larrakitj carvings and Make Your Mark is about inspiring everyone to think about positive ways they can mark the beginning of the new decade.

I’ve had the enormous privilege of working on Sydney New Year’s Eve – one of the greatest events in the world for 3 years now & last night’s was the best yet! I hope the crowds were inspired to think about positive ways they can mark the beginning of the new decade!

Rhoda Roberts

These 3 editions were, by far, the most creative yet, even if not as iconic as the Millennium edition. Since her departure from the event, the event started treating its creativity as a vehicle for branding, becoming more a marketing exercise, though until NYE2014, the event still maintained the level of creativity Rhoda brought even though it dropped off a bit.

In 2011 & 2012, Rhoda directed a Welcome To Country (2011) & Addressing Black Theatre (2012) for the Sydney Festival, the latter appearing elsewhere post-Festival.

In 2012, Rhoda was also appointed as the Sydney Opera House’s inaugural Head Of Indigenous Programming but she started feeling “somewhat dismayed” by Welcome To Countries:

It’s difficult. I think what’s happened is that everyone’s got excited about doing the right thing & being PC. I say tokenism in that it’s wonderful you’re doing it but I often feel you don’t have any heart for it or is it something you just say because you’re PC? I want to put the spirit & the heart into it.

It isn’t just about the spoken word. It isn’t about just getting up & saying welcome. It can be played in, it can be smoked in, it can be sung in, it can be danced in & I guess that’s where we’ve moved within the arts. Now the next phase of it is to actually understand the spirituality of it.

Rhoda Roberts

In 2013, the ABC got the TV rights to Sydney NYE & started showing the event’s Acknowledgment Of Country but from NYE2015, controversially replaced coverage of it in favour of a children’s NYE TV show until NYE2017.

In 2015, Rhoda’s Opera House role was renamed as Head Of First Nations Programming, during which, in December, she introduced a new annual Indigenous dance competition, Dance Rites, to the Sydney Opera House. She also, earlier in September that year, directed the Barangaroo Reserve Opening Ceremony & Welcome Celebrations.

From NYE2015, Sydney NYE‘s creativity was all but gone. Nevertheless, Rhoda returned to Sydney NYE, not to creatively direct the whole event but to turn the Acknowledgement Of Country into a Welcome To Country for the 1st time:

This year’s Sydney New Year’s Eve Welcome To Country celebrates the connection that Australia’s First Peoples have with the land in a way that’s inclusive and fun.

It was a challenge to show our ever-adapting culture using contemporary elements like pylon projections and pyrotechnics, but I think everyone will be enthralled on the night.

Rhoda Roberts

In 2016, Rhoda was chosen to direct The Lighting Of The Sails at the Sydney Opera House for that year’s Vivid Sydney. Themed Songlines, it was the 1st Indigenous projection mapping of the Sydney Opera House & the 1st Indigenous work commissioned exclusively for the Sydney Opera House sails. Rhoda brought together 10 Indigenous artists whose work illustrated the extraordinary connections between Indigenous astronomy & the natural world – the celestial & terrestrial songlines that weave through time & distance, earth & sky.

The songlines have been connecting Australian Aboriginal people for thousands of years. Songlines is a monumental work & an unprecedented opportunity for people around the world to really connect with the culture of Australia’s First People and glimpse the old trade routes that connected us all to Country.

The songlines are a living map & an archive of our culture. These pieces of art bring an entirely new look to the Opera House – steeped in tradition but so contemporary & relevant today. I simply cannot wait to see it unveiled during Vivid Sydney.

Rhoda Roberts

It is the proudest I’ve been of something I’ve done.

Rhoda Roberts on ‘Songlines’

In June 2016, Rhoda was made a General Division Officer Of The Order Of Australia ‘for distinguished service to the performing arts through a range of leadership & advocacy roles in the development, promotion & presentation of contemporary Indigenous culture’.

I think in my position I have such an obligation to create those platforms.

Rhoda Roberts

From Sydney NYE2016, she started theming the Welcome To Countries:

The (NYE2015) ceremony was received so positively, the impact was incredible & I was blown away. The challenge this year was to do something very different.

We’ve created a complex visual display of light & sound for this year’s (Welcome To Country) theme ‘Always Walking On Aboriginal Country’. We’ll be welcoming guests to Gadigal land that speaks to our communities including international visitors.

My intent is to honour the relationship between traditional custodians & the land by saying, ‘We acknowledge this Country, its tradition & custodians’.

We’re in such a special place on Sydney Harbour & we’re looking at ways that we can celebrate our history, our culture and our heritage using modern elements like pylon projections and pyrotechnic effects & that makes it fun for everyone.

Having the Welcome on the pylons of the Harbour Bridge for all the world to see is a commitment from the City Of Sydney that’s really important.

Rhoda Roberts

In her Sydney Opera House role in 2017 & inspired by Songlines, Rhoda, curated & launched Badu Gili, a nightly 7-minute Indigenous projection mapping show, sponsored by Australia Council For The Arts, on the eastern Bennelong Sail of the Sydney Opera House.

Badu Gili uses contemporary artworks & new mediums to celebrate time-honoured stories of seasonal change in flora & fauna. It combines music & images to create a gateway to Australia’s First Nations history & culture for the 8.2 million people who visit the Opera House each year.

An art exhibition like no other.

Rhoda Roberts

A 2nd chapter with new artists was added in 2018. Both chapters were shown in 2019 with a food & beverage bar added from November 2019, also featuring live Indigenous music 1 night per month. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 halted the nightly shows, with it shifting online. Rhoda left the Sydney Opera House as Head Of First Nations Programming in 2021 but Badu Gili returned offline later that year & is still running today, with a new show annually. It’s latest show, Story Keepers, on now:

For Sydney NYE2017, the Welcome To Country included a tribute marking the 50th anniversary of the Sydney-San Francisco sister city relationship, which anniversary was in the new year:

This is a story that shows all of Australia is Aboriginal land, and that Sydney is the gateway to Aboriginal Australia. It was one of the first contact points for First Nations Peoples, who have adapted & grown with the nation, while never forgetting who they are. The First People’s connection to Sydney’s story is unique. There’s nothing like it in the world.

Our Welcome To Country is continuing what those old people would have done – travelling up & down the state’s river systems calling out to other neighbouring clans & being welcomed. We’re welcoming Sydneysiders, interstate visitors and people from around the world to Sydney to gather for a Welcome To Country, with the help of new technology & a great fireworks display.

It starts with an old grandfather and a young boy & is about the intergenerational exchange of knowledge as they travel down the river fishing. The further we travel down the river, the more we see the environment changing. The trees & stars are replaced by buildings & lights from the city. The young boy is no longer in a traditional canoe. He’s in a dinghy & fishing with a rod rather than a spear.

Slowly, we see the transformation of Sydney Harbour with the parting of the reeds to reveal the Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge.

It shows traditional people moving through time but shows that we are always on Gadigal land, connecting the past & the future to the present.

There is a lovely connection between Sydney & San Francisco. Both cities are very similar in their geography & both cities have a strong and vibrant Indigenous culture.

There’s a great synergy between the histories of the First Peoples of these 2 great cities. The language, the stories & the rituals of the Indigenous peoples here & in San Francisco have survived, recognised and honoured & are still strong today.

From NYE2018, Rhoda stopped theming the Welcome To Countries and made it a shorter segment, now held at 7:30pm, but added a Calling Country, which was initially attached to the end of the 9pm Family Fireworks, saying the cultural protocol “has been updated for the 21st century”:

UNESCO has named 2019 the International Year Of Indigenous Languages so I think it is fitting that we end our new-look Welcome in words of the Gadigal that we can all embrace.

Calling Country is all about inclusion & bringing people together. We are drawing Welcome To Country into the future & inviting all to a deeper embrace of First Nations cultures and traditions.

Calling Country is how Aboriginal people relate to Country & how they are connected to every living thing, whether it’s a rock, tree, water or the ancestors who are always with us.

It is all about inclusion & affording everyone this opportunity to join this cultural tradition.

To call Country keeps a tradition alive, to respect our mother & most importantly, to remind us of the rare bounty Country gifts us all.

Rhoda Roberts

Rhoda returned to Vivid Sydney in 2019, directing a projection mapping show on the southern pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, titled EORA: Broken Spear, celebrating the International Year Of Indigenous Languages.

Later that year, she advised on Indigenous components in the Australian edition of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which was held at Stadium Australia.

The 2019 Calling Country was historically significant as the First Peoples of Sydney, presented the City Of Sydney, who were represented by the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, with a message stick, in effect, saying thank you for recognising them and the land & acknowledging Country, since 2004, which was also the year Clover Moore became Lord Mayor, 15 years earlier. It could also be unofficially considered as Rhoda also saying thank you to Sydney after her efforts to educate non-Indigenous people about Indigenous people since 1995, 24 years prior.

For New Year’s Eve, the message stick is a gift to the people, acknowledging Sydney for recognising the lands & the First Peoples of the city.

The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council has regenerated this ancient practice, paying homage to the old ways of crossing territories & communication.

This year, we look at the depth & wisdom of reading Country, listening to the movement of the 6 seasons & honouring the water that gives us life.

Our story focuses on the season of January & the estuaries that have always flowed and connected the clans to the deep water.

Our Calling Country features the song of the whale as we call the clans. The call & response is heard as the smoking commences & our warrior arrives carrying the message stick as the women begin the cleansing & like the old ways, we still gather to connect on the Harbour, to feast, celebrate the abundance, to laugh, think and play.

As our nations join forces to help those who are suffering from drought & fire, we are reminded of the precious gift we have inherited & the stewardship we continue as the First Nations People of Country.

Rhoda Roberts

NYE2019 was the last Sydney New Year’s Eve Rhoda worked on. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Calling Country wasn’t held for NYE2020 & NYE2021 with the Welcome To Country in NYE2020 being simply a video at 9:05pm while in NYE2021 was an expanded pyrotechnic version as a temporary replacement for the 9pm Family Fireworks, which was still too great a public health risk to hold. For NYE2022, Calling Country returned as the temporary replacement for the 9pm Family Fireworks with a shorter Welcome To Country being held earlier in the night, as it still is. In that year’s Calling Country, another message stick was presented to the Lord Mayor as a message of thank you for campaigning successfully for Indigenous LGBTQ+ rights (Same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia in 2017, just over 5 years prior). For NYE2023, Calling Country permanently replaced the 9pm Family Fireworks & has since become the most creative segment of the night, even though it has a lot less fireworks than the main Midnight Fireworks! With the decision in 2023, Sydney NYE now has an hour and 11 minutes of permanent Indigenous content when you include the hour-long Smoking Ceremony, which was first introduced for NYE2005.

In 2021, Rhoda curated First as part of Elevate Sydney – an early January drone show festival.

In 2022, Rhoda created for Vivid Sydney a new event titled First Light, which was a Welcome To Country held in the 20 minutes before & concluding with the Lights On! Moment at 6pm on the festival’s 1st night. For that edition only, it also involved projections on the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons in a show titled Sharing The Same Life Essence. A shortened version of First Light was played, mainly on big screens but also the pylons (the latter in 2022 only), each other festival night, which originally was, but in later editions wasn’t, done instead as an Acknowledgement Of Country.

For Vivid Sydney 2023’s Music program, Rhoda organised a tribute concert at the Sydney Town Hall for the late Archie Roach titled A Bend In The River: A Celebration Of The Life & Music Of Archie Roach.

From Vivid Sydney 2023 to 2025, Rhoda was also the event’s First Nations Advisor, where she continued to curate First Light, even expanding it in her last year at the event to include a Live music concert after the Lights On! Moment. The 2023 edition included international Indigenous performances and speeches & from that edition on, was increased to 30 minutes duration, while the 2024 edition changed from a Welcome To Country to a Calling Country. First Light was unexpectedly dropped from the Vivid Sydney 2026 program. The fact Rhoda had passed away 2 months prior may have been the reason for its unexpected absence.

At the FIFA Women’s World Cup – Australia & New Zealand 2023, Rhoda directed the Welcoming Ceremony before the Matildas’ 1st game at Stadium Australia, which was also the 1st game Australia hosted in the tournament. The Ceremony was controversially not broadcast by Channel 7, Australia’s largest TV broadcaster, in favour of pre-match analysis, despite the Ceremony, with Indigenous components, being held clearly visible in the panel’s background.

Rhoda directed many other events and other productions & held other non-event roles, all not always in Sydney, New South Wales or even Australia. The length of this article is testament to her contribution to the world & for her Indigenous people.

In August 2025, Rhoda was diagnosed with a rare type of ovarian cancer & she passed away at 1pm on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Her funeral, which, being the event director she was, she organised herself, was televised live nationally in Australia & live streamed globally.

A trailblazing national treasure.

Sam Mostyn, Governor-General Of Australia

Generations of Australians will be forever in her debt.

Brett Sheehy, ‘Vivid Sydney’ Director

One of the brightest stars of the Australian constellation.

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister Of Australia

Rhoda 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 & warmth that was our beloved Rhoda. She dedicated her life to culture, Country & people from all walks of life. She never judged & never discriminated. She always wanted to help uplift peoples’ lives & provide love and care. She faced so much trauma in her life but continued fighting & never gave up. Her strength, dedication & pure love will forever be remembered. She helped make incredible, positive change for so many & for this Country. She will be so deeply missed. No one compared to our Rhoda & there will never be another like her.

The Roberts-Field Family

Sources

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