This International Women’s Day, Murdoch University has honoured the first Aboriginal person in WA to be awarded a PhD by naming a space in her honour.
The Level 4 event space in award-winning building Boola Katitjin has been renamed ‘The Rosemary van den Berg Room’.
Dr Rosemary van den Berg was an esteemed Noongar elder, writer, historian, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
Dr van den Berg inspired many throughout her life to pursue higher education, including her granddaughter, Murdoch University’s Pro Vice Chancellor First Nations Chanelle van den Berg.
She also taught for a short time at Murdoch University, teaching essay writing and English to Aboriginal KATEC (bridging course) students.
Pro Vice Chancellor van den Berg said her grandmother was the person who “really instilled a love of education” in her – and that inspiration carried down throughout the generations, with her own daughter also attending Murdoch.
“Nanna had this beautiful study and I would always go there and do my homework when I was a teenager,” she said.
“I would write and she would edit and show me how to improve my work.”
A true matriarch, Dr van den Berg had 26 grandchildren, Pro Vice Chancellor van den Berg being the eldest, 43 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
Throughout her life, Dr van den Berg worked for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Perth, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Australian Public Service in the area of Aboriginal Affairs.
She wrote about her childhood, growing up in the Moore River Native Settlement near Mogumber in WA’s South West.
Her parents were part of the Stolen Generation and she grew up in constant fear of being separated from her own family.
Despite facing years of institutional racism throughout primary school, high school and the health sector, Dr van den Berg continued to blaze a trail for all those who looked up to her.
She was a valedictorian, wrote books to memorialise the stories of both her father and husband, and wrote pieces on what it meant to grow up Aboriginal in a system designed to benefit white people.
The Rosemary van den Berg Room is an event space overlooking the Beeliar Wetlands, an area which holds significance for the Whadjuk Noongar peoples as it was important for camping, ceremonial areas and as a source of food.
Pro Vice Chancellor van den Berg said it was really meaningful recognition for a woman who was a champion for so many that followed her.
She broke barriers and continued to fight for her mob to have a voice and ensure her grandchildren could live in world which was better than the one she grew up in."
“A world where the same barriers she had were not there. And she continued this fight right up until she passed away.
“This person was my inspiration and I know she would be incredibly proud and humbled to have a space at Murdoch named in her honour.”
The space held an official naming ceremony on International Women's Day, March 8.
Many members of Dr van den Berg's family were in attendance, including her husband, Jack, sharing memories and honouring her achievements.