Alumni Life - Alex Marley

During my MA, I got my first taste of linguistic fieldwork and was instantly hooked. My research focused on multilingualism and language use in a remote Papuan village in New Britain, PNG. After that I moved to Germany for a while before winning a scholarship to do a PhD at the ANU in Canberra. For the past 5.5 years I have been working with a small community in west Arnhem Land, NT, looking at language variation and change in Bininj Kunwok, one of the few Australian Aboriginal languages still spoken. All up, I have spent 13 months doing fieldwork up in Arnhem Land and in addition to learning the language have had many hilarious and strange adventures in the bush. I am currently chasing up more research grants so that I can continue to work in the region and support the language and community.”

The set of paintings Alex did for the Visual Arts HSC were a finely executed melding of medieval style and contemporary issues. I recall she was quite affected by the bush fires of 2001 (as I myself was living in Helensburgh at that time!!) and she took a series of photos that informed her art practice for her Body of Work.

“That’s right- I did a series of paintings (acrylic on board) in a medieval style depicting stories from the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires. At that time (2002), they were the worst fires in Australian history, but in the summer of 2001, the Royal National park and parts of the Illawarra escarpment were ablaze in another bushfire. I was fascinated with illuminated manuscripts and medieval European art, and so wanted to bring together my interest in this art period with the Australian bushfire experience.

Alex is still inspired to make art in many forms…

“… I still do art work when I have time and space. I got into watercolour for a while, and then became enamoured with ceramics. All my sea-creature-themed ceramic pots and sculptures are now lurking amongst the plants in my mother’s garden. I also enjoy sewing and I can never go past a fabric shop without going in and fantasising about all the materials. I think I love lino-printing most of all, though. Nothing quite beats that moment when you finish pressing the plate and as you peel back the paper, your artwork is revealed.”

Through her research and working with Indigenous Australians Alex has continued to be affected by artworks produced by our first nation people.

“I think the work of John Mawurndjurl is some of my favourite. He is a renowned Australian artist living in Maningrida, and he had a fantastic exhibition at the MCA in 2018 called ‘I am the old and the new’. He is a speaker of Kune, a dialect of the language I have been researching.”

Alex jests about “finally getting to put “Dr” in front of my name, despite not ending up in medicine!” and is looking towards the future … “Hopefully with a post-doc under my belt, and a permanent position working in some aspect of linguistic research. I want also to start a hobby farm out in the country and set up an art studio where I can spend my weekends and holidays.”

Alex typifies how SHHS prepares students in many often unexpected ways for a successful life including showing gratitude to one’s family, teachers and mentors as well as holding dear friendships forged at school.

“My PhD supervisors Prof. Nick Evans and Dr. Murray Garde have been critical to my career, but also my mother and grandmother who taught me the importance of compassion and that you’re never too old to change and grow.

I am still very close to the friends I made at SHHS. I gather from my other friends that this is rather unusual, and that most people drift away from their high school mates. SHHS is pretty unique in that the students often find like-minded friends and form strong, lasting bonds which is harder to do when the cohort is based on just being in a local catchment area.”

Reflecting on her thinking as a 17 year old school student Alex says…”Just do the HSC topics that interest you. I really wanted to do Biology and German, but was informed that if I wanted to do medicine at uni then I should do Math and Physics. While I enjoyed these, I was not very good at them! In the end I didn’t want to do medicine, and even if I had, I didn’t get the 98.9 UAI necessary to get straight in. Once I was at uni, I realised that there are ALWAYS alternate routes, and that I could’ve done the subjects at high school I was most passionate about without any harm to my future.”

Now holding a PhD in Linguistics Alex is amongst the vanguard of how we can all benefit from the thousands of years of living in this country from its first nation people. She reiterates what I and many teachers have come to acknowledge… “Indigenous culture and language can be included in all topics. We live on Aboriginal land and the history and culture of the first peoples of this country can be integrated into every topic at school: D&T, English, Art, Math, Biology, Geography… I would encourage schools and teachers to contact local Indigenous corporations and elders to seek advice with how to integrate respectful and meaningful content into their classes. The Dharawal language is currently undergoing a revival, and local schools can support Indigenous culture and language by teaching ALL students (not just Indigenous students or those who enroll in Aboriginal/Indigenous studies) about the country on which they live. There is so much to gain from learning about the rich cultural and linguistic heritage of this land and absolutely nothing to lose.”

Alex’s experiences demonstrate how Visual Arts was at the core of her interests and resulted in a varied pathway ultimately to her PhD in Linguistics. It also shows that undertaking tertiary studies initially in a BA have benefitted her - a timely reminder considering the current government’s attitude to the worth of such degrees. It is also gratifying to hear that she remains an artist, finding value in art making, complementing her academic life. The relatively simple technique of lino-printing is something most SHHS students will experience in their mandatory Visual Arts course and Alex utilises this skill even now at the peak of her professional life.

Alex’s experiences demonstrate how Visual Arts was at the core of her interests and resulted in a varied pathway ultimately to her PhD in Linguistics. It also shows that undertaking tertiary studies initially in a BA have benefitted her - a timely reminder considering the current government’s attitude to the worth of such degrees. It is also gratifying to hear that she remains an artist, finding value in art making, complementing her academic life. The relatively simple technique of lino-printing is something most SHHS students will experience in their mandatory Visual Arts course and Alex utilises this skill even now at the peak of her professional life.

Sharon Mearing – Visual Arts teacher (retired)