News Archive

Pat Dudgeon is definitely deadly.

Not in the way a red-back spider is deadly, but in the vernacular of Australian Aboriginal people, meaning excellent, the best.

Professor Dudgeon from the School of Indigenous Studies has won a Deadly - the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport and Entertainment, and Community Awards.

A Bardi woman from the Kimberley, she was the first Aboriginal psychologist to graduate in Australia. Professor Dudgeon was feted at the Deadlys for her work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and suicide prevention, and also in trauma, loss and grief.

Her Community Award, in the area of health, recognises the outstanding contribution Professor Dudgeon has made over many years and her passion for helping her people.

The first Aboriginal practitioner to become a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, Professor Dudgeon has been involved in countless organisations and initiatives and was the inaugural Chair of the Australian Indigenous Psychologists' Association.  She is also a National Mental Health Commissioner.

Professor Dudgeon is co-Chair of the Australian Psychological Society's Reconciliation Action Plan executive management group.

Her most recent work has been with the National Empowerment Program, a universal strategy to promote social and emotional wellbeing and reduce community distress and suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander communities.

She was Head of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University for nearly 20 years before joining UWA as research fellow.

The Deadlys are supported by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.