From footy to First Nations Ambassador: Adam Goodes’ new uni gig
A decade after retiring from footy, AFL legend Adam Goodes has new goals to kick in his top job at Adelaide University.
Adam Goodes believes Indigenous Australians are “the most researched people in Australia” and it was about time they became the researchers.
“It’s always somebody else asking the questions and it would be really great for us at our university, if we can create more PhD students and create more Indigenous researchers,” Goodes tells InDaily.
This will be one of Goodes’ key focus areas as he takes on the inaugural role as First Nations Ambassador at the newly merged Adelaide University.
It’s been a decade since the 2014 Australian of the Year and dual Brownlow Medallist hung up his footy boots, and since then he has opted for a microphone to advocate for Indigenous education.
Goodes, an Adnyamathanha/Narungga man born in Wallaroo, frequently called out racism in his fifteen-year career with the Sydney Swans. The story of abuse he sustained in the national game has been well-documented through film, and has been studied by university students across the country.
In 2023, he was immortalised in a bronze sculpture depicting his war dance at the player’s entrance of the Sydney Swans HQ.
But he says as much as he loves being remembered for his 18-year footy career, part of the legacy he wants to be known for is helping First Nations people attend school and university.
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“Some of the legacy piece for me [would be]…having some of the biggest cohorts of First Nations people graduating from a university that the country’s seen,” Goodes said.
“Legacy to me is not something that I think about and breathe every day of my life, but education has been a key part of my life, and it’s helped and supported me.
“I wouldn’t be in this position right now and accepting this role if education wasn’t something that I was passionate about.”
The university is the second largest employer in the state, after the government, Goodes said, with about 12,000 staff.
Currently, about 1.2 per cent of those staff members are First Nations people.
The current levels of Indigenous students are about seven times higher than Indigenous staff, with 752 First Nations students enrolled as of April 1.
In the inaugural role at the new university, he will liaise with Indigenous leaders across different university portfolios and with Vice Chancellor Nicola Phillips to create a 10-year strategy to enhance opportunities for First Nations students.
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He said they would aim to boost First Nations participation rates and retention rates, but that specific targets were not yet set.
“Adelaide University being the university of choice for First Nations Australians, that would be a real tick of approval for us as a university but for that to happen, we know that we have to create changes within universities, not only as institutions, but as it looks and feels on the ground for our people as well,” Goodes said.
During the recent state election campaign, SA’s One Nation leader Cory Bernardi criticised an Aboriginal flag signage at the university that showed a Kaurna greeting, “Niina Marni“, meaning “hello, how are you?”.
He mocked the sign claiming it was “trying to erase our history”.
When asked about how First Nations people were being talked about in South Australia, Goodes said he was “not across the politics” given he has been living in New South Wales for 29 years, but that he believed the university’s commitment to First Nations people and culture “is going over and beyond”.
“Since I retired from my other career, it’s coming up to 11 years now, I made a clear decision to only operate in places where I can make a positive difference, and me taking this role as the First Nations ambassador, I can see that can have a massive impact on the university, and not only from a policy and strategy point of view, but physically on the ground,” he said.
Goodes is in South Australia this week, with about nine trips booked in this year to work in his university job and connect with students on country. His GO Foundation, which Goodes founded with Kaurna / Ngarrindjeri / Narungga man Michael O’Loughlin to support primary and high school Indigenous students, also has an office in SA.
Goodes said in the lead-up to this role, he had spoken to then-UniSA Vice Chancellor David Lloyd about creating a position that would allow him to spend more time in SA and support the education sector.
Goodes was awarded an honorary doctorate by UniSA in 2019 for his human rights advocacy and fight against racism.
But despite his relationship with the former UniSA, he could not be drawn to comparing the former institutions’ track record on Indigenous participation.
“I think when you bring two universities together, everyone comes with a different perspective of what they used to do at the old university, and being someone who didn’t come from either University, I come in with a clean slate, with the perspective of, ‘okay, what we’re doing is creating something new, and that excites me’,” he said.
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