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“Education is knowledge and knowledge is power.
Wisdom is what we do with our power.”
Dr Richard Fejo is a man who electrified a national audience at the 2020 AFL Dreamtime match; a man who represented Australia in rugby union; a man who travels the world educating and inspiring others; and a man whose words have the power to break barriers to help create a more inclusive place for everyone.
Richard is also a First Nations man with a disability who has dedicated his life to helping others live their best life – by celebrating what we can do rather than what we can’t, and working on making the future a little brighter, rather than fixating on the past.
Whether he’s in the boardroom or out in remote communities, as a cultural educator, Richard uses storytelling as a tool of engagement, connecting people to their countries culture through fact-based knowledge.
His words are deep-rooted within an intensely personal story.
Richard is the son of Lorna Tennant Fejo, a Stolen Generations survivor whose journey was shared with the nation during the 2008 National Apology. Her story of removal, and ultimately reconnection, has shaped his.
Listen to Richard tell Lorna’s story here: A Story From the Stolen Generation – Rocky Bay
Taken from her family at just four years old, Lorna was removed from Tennant Creek and transported to Croker Island. There, alongside dozens of other Aboriginal girls, she was raised in a mission under strict religious instruction, far from her country, family and identity.
Despite this forced separation, fragments of culture lived on. Lorna carried forward knowledge of kinship systems – the intricate Aboriginal framework that connects people to family, community, land and all living things. Richard recalls her teachings.
“Kin means family, the kinship system connects us within our nuclear family, extended throughout the community and through our skin names. And it also connects us to our totems, which connects us to flora and fauna and country.
These cultures change across different regions because we have saltwater country, freshwater country, mountain, desert. And so, the flora and fauna changes and so does our culture.”
Lorna’s journey was marked by remarkable times of survival, including the 1942 bombing of Darwin while living on Crocker Island. She was just 12 years old.
“There were hundreds of planes up in the air,” said Richard. “The children ran down thinking it was a parade. They were waving at all these planes going past and the Japanese soldiers were shooing them to get off the beach.
They saw there was a kind of a shed house with a cross on top of it, so they knew what that meant. There were children all across the beach, so they left them alone.
But after Darwin was bombed, they got on a boat, and the nun took the children to a place called Oenpelli. From there it was maybe a three-day walk from Pine Creek where they had to go, and they were found by the army in Pine Creek, which is south of Darwin.
Then they were put on army trucks and taken down to Alice Springs, put on the train and taken to Adelaide. Mum went to Wollongong where she kept up with the schooling and became a primary school teacher, before coming back to Darwin where she met Dad. I’m the last of seven children.”
Reconnecting to a lost identity
Decades later, Lorna experienced a powerful reconnection with her identity.
“An Aboriginal man bumped into her at Darwin City Mall,” said Richard. “He looked at her and said, “Show me your hand”. Back then, because she was a fair-skinned Aboriginal person, they would actually cut the child’s hand with an X to mark it. And he saw the scar and he said, “You’re one of us”.
That would have been about 40 years later from mum being removed. He told mum about how her family had gone from Tennant Creek. The missionaries actually named her Tennant, Lorna Tennant, before she became Fejo when meeting my dad.”
There’s one childhood memory that stands out vividly for Richard. It was during a family trip to Elliott, a small town near Tennant Creek. He describes the place as being so small, “if you blink you’ll miss it”. There, he witnessed firsthand the stark realities faced by many Aboriginal communities.
“Flies everywhere, dogs with no hair, people living outside under tin sheds with their dogs, you know, sleeping on the ground. Real, extreme neglect. And I think that changed us. And we were afraid that if we didn’t go to school, we were told that welfare would come and take us away from our families.
We all went into it, the education stream…I’m actually the fifth doctor in the family…my uncle became a doctor of theology, my sister became a doctor in sociology, my other sister a doctor in medicine. My niece became the first Aboriginal doctor to graduate in medicine from ANU (Australian National University) and then I became an honorary doctor with Flinders University (Darwin).”
It was on this same trip that Richard’s mum came face to face with the man who removed her as a child.
“We heard news that an old man wanted mum to visit him,” explained Richard. “When she came back from the visit with uncle, she was a little bit shaken, but she didn’t say anything till we got back to Darwin.
The old man that mum visited was the black trucker who took her when she was four. He was still alive and he recognised her. He was pushed outside of the community as a reject because he had taken, and had helped the police take so many children.
So, he was basically placed in isolation, you know, and nobody in the community liked him. But when he saw mum, he started crying and he asked mum to forgive him. And mum said, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have the family that I have today.”
Kevin Rudd’s national apology
Lorna’s story went full circle in 2008, when then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. Richard was working for the Aboriginal Legal Service at the time.
“The Prime Minister comes out and he’s telling this story about a woman who was stolen,” said Richard. “I was sitting there next to the magistrate and we kind of looked at each other. And I was like, that sounds like mum’s story. And then Kevin Rudd says, “That’s the story of Nanna Nangala Fejo”.
And the magistrate said to me, “Do you know that person?” I said, “Yeah, that’s my mum,” and we just started bawling our eyes with pride, you know. But in her story, what we learned from it is that where there is sometimes wrongdoing committed against us, we can find the will to forgive and try to move on. But reconciliation is also a two-door process, a swinging door, you know.”
As Richard explained, this shared responsibility requires effort from all Australians.
“Too often, Aboriginal people are pushing the wagon alone,” he said. “Reconciliation has to be something we all carry together. There are so many things working against the interests of Aboriginal people, but so much evidence to prove the contrary, you know. I have done years of reflective thinking. And, what it comes down to is that reconciliation begins and ends with us.”
Childhood resilience
In his work, Richard advocates for evidence-based understanding and respectful engagement. Whether challenging misinformation online or educating communities about cultural realities, he remains committed to dialogue grounded in facts, not fear.
His approach is shaped by patience, something he attributes partly to his childhood. Born with one arm, and labelled “clumsy and skinny”, he experienced bullying from an early age. He trained in karate which helped build skills in self-defence as well as discipline and restraint – but he credits his childhood roosters for his speed on the rugby field!
“We had chickens, so we had to outrun the chickens and the roosters!” laughed Richard. “I got into sports and despite being born with one arm, I’m actually a two-time Australian rugby union player. So, yeah, I played against New Zealand schoolboys. I started playing when I was eight.”
The resilience built from these early experiences helped shape the man Richard is today and is reflected in how he responds to racism and discrimination, which are still so prevalent in today’s society.
“Whether it’s intended or not intended, I try and remain calm and collective in that type of a space where people are attacking me,” said Richard.
He said one of the biggest challenges he faces, is people trying to “delegitimise who we are” through misinformation. He provides one of many examples.
“So just the other day, we’re boating in Darwin and a non-Aboriginal person came walking past me and said, “Larrakia is a made-up concept”, you know? Unfortunately, we’re put in a position where we need to legitimise ourselves.”
Richard said using your “head instead of the heart” is the only way.
“We have to outsmart through being educated,” he said. “In reality, while we work on reconciliation, we also have to adopt a standard zero tolerance to bullying. And we have to draw the line and say enough’s enough. We have to speak out, speak up, and share stories.”
Making positive steps in the right direction
Richard’s welcoming nature, personal insight and fact-based knowledge is helping inform, educate and start the conversation around how to negotiate societal challenges, and make positive steps.
“I go to high schools and talk about leadership,” said Richard. “I go to employment centres where people are undergoing training to get a Cert IV in employment so they can get a job. And I talk to them about where I started off.
You know, I had a school teacher who said I was just going to be another drunk Aboriginal person that won’t achieve anything. And now I’m the first and only Aboriginal person on the national board of NDIS, helping Australians with disabilities.”
Richard is also the Elder at Browns Mart Theatre in Darwin, where he is currently working on ways to reach a wider audience through creating engaging and accessible education.
“I’m playing around with a project about developing Larrakia history,” said Richard, “working with historians, especially around World War II, Cyclone Tracy, Stolen Generation, and things that have impacted us in the north.
So, when we have new Australians coming in, they can watch this for free, or on YouTube. Because if we start with our Australian histories told by us, then we can actually educate people.”
He believes meaningful progress lies in partnerships – building alliances between communities and recognising shared experiences.
“I dream of having a First Nations army of carers, you know?” said Richard. “What if we took all these people that are unemployed and actually trained them.
We could set up training centres, and we could have them caring for their parents or their grandparents or people with disabilities and their families, you know, and you’re earning an income. So it actually flips the social discourse and social determinants of health into a positive from a negative.”
The journey of wellbeing
Central to Richard’s thinking is a powerful framework he calls “the journey of wellbeing.” This framework reimagines wellbeing by challenging the negative language we often use about ourselves. He said that traditionally, life is seen as a cycle with dips into a “pit of despair.” But by flipping that perspective, those lows can be reframed, allowing space to recognise and grow joy – like the natural ups and downs of a heartbeat.
Building on this idea, Richard said that if we focus too much on the past, the “pit” can feel deeper, and joy smaller. So the key is to use a more positive lens: What do we have to celebrate, why does it matter, and how can we make space for it?
Richard believes that this shared reflection can lead to healthier, happier lives, grounded in personal and collective change.
“If we change now, then we can make the pit of despair smaller and the joy much bigger,” he said. “This is why we have to share these ideas. In everyday life – especially for people with disabilities, this means asking: Where do I find joy? Where do I feel despair? And what can I celebrate?”
Parallels between First Nations people and people with disability
Richard highlights strong parallels between First Nations people and people with disability, particularly in their shared experiences of discrimination and systemic barriers.
“Recently I was on a panel with the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commission,” he explained, “and one of the things that I realised is that if anyone understands discrimination better than First Nations people, it’s people with disabilities.
One of the questions presented to me on the panel is “What’s it like being a First Nations person with a disability and how is that different from being a person with a disability”. I said, they’re one and the same.”
He argues for shifting the narrative from deficit to strength – focusing on what can be celebrated, such as progress in the disability sector and improvements in language. This positive lens, supported by allies, can help drive change.
Richard also emphasises using influence to promote a strengths-based perspective.
“For people with disabilities, don’t think about what they can’t do, he said. “Think about what they can do. Take that opportunistic approach, you know. When I was in high school, I never knew what I wanted to do. I never dreamt that I would present at a world conference set. I presented in China and just got back from New Zealand at an international education conference presenting on culture.”
He also points to the importance of leadership and advocacy – and being a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
“How do we become the voices of the people that cannot speak for themselves? Because that is leadership. As leaders, we have the opportunity to reach an audience where many people in the pit of despair cannot reach. I know I’m not going to win every battle, and that’s all right, because a lot of the battles you have to just walk away from.
I also believe that criticism is the best compliment. So we can’t improve things until we know what’s wrong, you know? We have an onus to speak up, not just for ourselves, but for those who can’t speak.”
For Richard, National Reconciliation Week is certainly a time to reflect on the past, but it’s also about looking forward with hope. And that hope lies in education.
“Education is the answer. Like mum said, education is knowledge and knowledge is power. And we can empower ourselves. But I’ve added to mum’s saying, and I’ve said, education is knowledge and knowledge is power. Wisdom is what we do with our power.”
Taking the stage at the AFL
And Richard found a stage that would prove to be more powerful that he could have ever hoped for, with an audience of hundreds of thousands…
Richard found himself in the spotlight in 2020 when he was invited to do Welcome to Country at the AFL Dreamtime match. But he changed the script, finding a way of bringing inclusivity to a major event. And everyone loved it – he racked up over 200,000 views on YouTube!
After spending 30 years working across 40 remote communities, Richard had met a lot of people from many different communities. And he quickly realised that this understanding was a way of connecting.
“I developed it while looking around the crowd at NIMAs (National Indigenous Music Awards) doing a Welcome to Country – I was like, hey, look, there’s all the Tiwi people over there, and there’s all the people from Groote Eylandt, and there’s all the desert mob. And so when I got up on stage I said, “Hey, where’s all the Tiwi mob? And “Where’s all the Warumungu mob?” And I thought – that actually works so well! I thought, I’m going to take that, put it in my pocket and save it for a good opportunity.”
And the AFL Dreamtime match was that opportunity.
“People just ran after me in the droves, hugging me and I was like, what? And they said, do you know what you just did? And I was like, no. But then it hit over 200,000 views, you know? So we kind of try and create inclusiveness, not exclusiveness.”
Building a legacy
So how does someone go from being “the shy kid in high school” to international speaker, a voice to the voiceless and role model to generations?
What began as determination in the face of adversity has grown into a platform where Richard can connect and empower others across the world. And not just through speaking.
As he looks to the future, Richard continues to explore new ways to connect, embracing creativity as a powerful form of storytelling. From painting in his early years to now expressing himself through stand-up comedy and music, he has found new avenues to break down barriers, challenge perceptions and bring people together.
As we reflect on what National Reconciliation Week means to us and how we are going to help drive positive change going forward, Richard has some simple advice:
“Be committed to whatever it is you’re doing…and go get it!”
