Nova Peris was born and raised in Darwin. Her mother, grandmother and grandfather are all members of the ‘Stolen Generations’ from respective missions on the Tiwi islands, Moola Bulla of the East Kimberley and Beagle Bay of the West Kimberley. When we asked her if she had any female icons when she was growing up, we knew the answer:
'I guess my Mum. I also had a lot of Aunties, they were strong women and played sports, champion up their own children. I had a lot of good strong females while I was growing up. Even though I played sports at the highest level, I was a mum when Jessica was born a week after my 19th birthday.
Nova came out of school when she was 16, she did one year at university and her cadetship. She finished school a year after she became a mum. Then she took more sports, then she had more children and now she is a grandma. 'It's just a natural thing and I am I don't think I will change anything in the world.' told SBS Greek.
Known to many Australians for her sporting achievements, she was the first Indigenous Australian as well as first Territorian, to win a Gold Medal. Nova played in the Australian Women’s Hockey team at the 1996 Summer Olympics and became a double gold medalist in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
She believes that the women's position in Australian sports and in society is getting better. 'In sports now like the AFL and in tennis, women are treated equally, but we still have got a long way to go as a society.' She says that, at times, there is a culture within Australia that behaviour from man towards women is acceptable. 'And then', she adds, 'if you're a woman who stands up against her, you get shut down.'
She explains saying that from her own experience, in terms of her daughter, Jessica, she went through the courts, she was determined to do that and she's got shut down. 'I was in parliament at the time, it was very difficult for me to be able to publicly come out and speak about it. It was during that time that Rosie Batty was Australian of the Year and she spent many times in Parliament speaking out about domestic and family violence.'
When she talks about domestic violence she describes it as terrorism. 'There is all this talk about terrorism, yet there are a few hundred thousand Apprehended Violence Orders. We've got terrorism in our own lounge rooms in Australian society. I think for women you know it's almost like there is this huge inequality of how women are portrayed, it's almost like you have some sort of look.'
Nova has extensive community experience addressing Indigenous disadvantage, particularly in the Northern Territory. She helped deliver more than 100 health and education checks across communities Australia-wide and has worked to establish the innovative Nova Peris Girls Academy (NGPA) over the past three years, which focuses on keeping Aboriginal Girls’ engaged with education. She was first elected in 2013 and has become the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament.
She is optimistic that our society can change only if we can educate kids at a very young age about that mutual respect, about how boys should treat girls and how girls should accept to be treated. 'In most countries that I've been to, Australia is one of the better places in a way, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that, we still have a long way to go.' told SBS Greek.
Nova Peris OAM with journalist Jo Pearson at 'Food For Thought' Greek Australian women's network event for 2018 International Women's Day. Source: SBS Greek
RELATED ARTICLES
'Changing our communities, by getting rid of social stereotypes'
