Highest honour to Albany author

Albany author Kim Scott has been named the inaugural West Australian of the Year.

Professor Scott was awarded the State’s highest honour at a gala ceremony at Burswood in Perth on Saturday night.

The former Mt Lockyer Primary and Albany Senior High School student also won the indigenous award and was a finalist in the Arts and Culture category.

Professor Scott, who is a two-time Miles Franklin award winner, was recognised for the discussion his writing has stimulated on Noongar culture in the wider community.

He was also recognised for his work with the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories initiative, which is an ongoing project designed to preserve Aboriginal language and culture through the recording of traditional stories.

The humble author said he was flattered, but “stressed” after winning the award. “One of the things that is a bit anxiety provoking about winning this award is it’s an individual award, and a great deal of the work I do requires teams,” he said. “I couldn’t help but think of the many other Noongar people that in my eyes could well win an award like this.”

The Western Australian of the Year Awards were formerly called the WA Citizen of the Year Awards, and were renamed to coincide with the first WA Day public holiday this year.

Professor Scott said he was excited to be part of the first WA Day.

“It really pleases me,” he said.

“Without dissing all that British heritage, which is important to me as well, WA Day allows for the possibility that we can be a lot more inclusive of that earlier (Aboriginal) history.”

Last June, Professor Scott won Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, the Miles Franklin, for his novel That Deadman Dance.

The book tells the story of the first contact between Noongar people and early European settlers in the area that was to become Albany.

It was the second time he had won the award, the first being in 2000 for his novel Benang.

keir.tunbridge@albanyadvertiser.com