Olivia Roberts urges the community to ‘work together’ after being named Albany’s Senior Citizen of the Year

One of the loudest rounds of applause at Albany’s Australia Day formalities was reserved for when Olivia Roberts was announced as the Senior Citizen of the Year.

Another loud cheer rang out once she delivered an acceptance speech urging the community to work together because “we are all here as one”.

“At the end of the day, we are all in this together, whether we are black, white or green,” Ms Roberts said.

“We all need to realise Australia is a lucky country and we need to move forward together as one in spite of all our heartaches.

“We’ve all had heartaches no matter where we’ve come from.”

Ms Roberts won the award in recognition of her commitment to improving the lives of others in her community by advocating strongly for health, education and quality of life improvements.

She co-founded Kadadjiny Aboriginal Corporation and chairs the cultural advisory committee of the Wagyl Kaip Southern Aboriginal Corporation.

As a proud Wirlomin Noongar Elder, she is a well-respected community connector.

“I am so proud to be here for my people from the Wirlomin tribe, they had a lot of injustices done to them,” Ms Roberts said.

“But my pop said to me ‘in order for us to survive, we’ve got to work closely with the wider community and the white people, they will know and in time we can all come together’.

“We’re a multicultural nation here — together we should look and think wholeheartedly because you don’t know where other people have come from or where they are going.

“If you can make a difference in someone’s life, I suggest each and every one of you that are here look long and hard to do that.”

Reflecting on what had been a difficult 12 months for many Indigenous people, Ms Roberts said a “young lad” had recently given her an insight into what the future holds.

“We are all one, colour is not an issue and we all bleed,” she said.

“Today I’m grateful to be here with my Auntie who wasn’t going to come.

“In spite of everything that has gone on, we need to look forward, hold each other’s heads up and share what we’ve got.

“We are all in this together and we are all here as one.”

Douglas Coxall and Allan McKechnie were also nominated for the award.