Victoria University has awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Alma Thorpe, Aboriginal Elder, activist, 'barefoot doctor' and health leader, in recognition of her exceptional contribution to health and activism in Australia.
The highest honour conferred by the University, the Honorary Doctorate recognises Dr Thorpe's lifetime of work and her ongoing impact to Aboriginal self-determination.
Presenting the award in front of 200 other health graduates at the graduation ceremony, VU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adam Shoemaker, said Dr Thorpe has been the backbone and strength of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.
"It is well known that you are the co-creator of the Aboriginal Health Training Program that was delivered through Koorie Kollij. Your lifetime commitment and community work have transformed the health and life outcomes for countless Aboriginal people and the story remains alive in the Aboriginal History Archive of Victoria University."
Her contribution to revolutionising healthcare and healthcare systems for Aboriginal communities is profound.
After travelling to China to see firsthand the work of the Barefoot Doctors – a program run during the Cultural Revolution where 1.5 million peasants received intensive training then returned to their communities to deliver basic healthcare services - Dr Thorpe returned to Fitzroy in the 1970s and working together with Bruce McGuinness, Professor Gary Foley, Geraldine Briggs, Margaret Briggs and other emerging Aboriginal leaders established the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy.
As part of this, Dr Thorpe pioneered the role of Aboriginal Health Worker, the equivalent of the 'barefoot doctors' she had observed in China.
Reflecting on her journey at last week's event, she said: "It's a long story. In the 70s, we had no say as Aboriginal people. It was very hard. When the Blak Power movement came, that gave us a voice."
"I was proud to be who I was. I was a Fitzroy Blakfella. I'm Gunditjmara, I was born and bred in Fitzroy. My father was an Aboriginal. All the family came to live with us. Everybody has a connection to Country and we are all interconnected in one way or another," she said.
VAHS cared for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and central to her legacy was her impact on many young men who were battling substance addiction.
"I was one of the first Aboriginal Health Workers and I am so proud of that. And the very special place of Fitzroy was, for many people, the mob in Fitzroy, was about a connecting space. It was about identity. It is about what brings about the specialness in you. I think that relates a lot to who we are as Aboriginal people, it is about how you grow into a space," Alma's daughter, Glenda Thorpe said.
Seeing the impact of the VAHS model in Fitzroy, Dr Thorpe worked with 150 First Nations communities around Australia to listen to their needs and played an essential role in establishing the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation, which has been recognised by the World Health Organization.
"She was a mother to a lot of people, not just me and my siblings," Alma's son, Robbie Thorpe said.
"I travelled a lot with mum around setting up health service in rural and urban areas around this country. The idea was: community control, community-based, self-determination and the principles of sovereignty. And I've been on that wagon ever since; our place in this country. And my mother's legacy; she has made it a lot easier for a lot of people to understand our place in this country. I'm so proud of you mum."
VU Indigenous Academic Unit, Moondani Balluk Executive Director, Karen Jackson, is working with Professor Foley and his team to preserve Alma's work and legacy in the Aboriginal History Archive.
"There's so many stories that [Gary] Foley tells about the strong Aboriginal women – referring to you – who held the place; and held space; and did all the hard yards," Ms Jackson said.
"I am so proud that Victoria University has made you an Honorary Doctorate because you totally deserve that. Whenever I'm talking about who I am or where I come from I talk about being Yorta Yorta or Dja Dja Wurrung, but I learnt community control and self-determination in Aboriginal Fitzroy. So that's how I know community is important."
Dr Thorpe turns 90 later this month, and as her granddaughter Nioka Thorpe-Williams said while Alma's formal academic recognition was a long time coming, "Becoming a doctor three weeks before you turn 90 is pretty special."
