Rhoda Roberts

Rhoda Roberts AO (b. 1960) is a Bundjalung woman from northern New South Wales, and a producer, director, writer, broadcaster, performer and arts executive. The daughter of politically active parents, Roberts grew up in Lismore and has recalled experiencing discrimination from a young age. Discouraged from undertaking the Higher School Certificate, she left school after Year 10 and moved to Sydney to study nursing, graduating in 1979. She became involved in theatre in the mid-1980s, co-founding the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust in 1988. In 1990 she joined SBS as a presenter on Vox Populi, and between 1992 and 2012 she was a producer and broadcaster for the national radio program Deadly Sounds. Her numerous credits include roles as a creative director of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony and the Dreaming Festival. From 2012 to 2021 she was Head of Indigenous Programming at the Sydney Opera House. She is also art curator of the Parrtjima Festival in Alice Springs, and director of Boomerang, the First Nations segment of Bluesfest.

Penny Tweedie spent a year travelling around Australia in 2000 photographing and interviewing successful young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which resulted in her 2001 book Indigenous Australia: Standing Strong. When Tweedie took this image Roberts was an Indigenous Cultural Adviser for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Gift of the artist 2004
© Estate of Penny Tweedie