"My Mum was a nurse, as was my Auntie and my Godmother. I was around healing all the time and it spoke to me, so that's where I wanted to be.” 

The Nyikina woman from Derby would go on to realise that dream, becoming a nurse and then midwife. But it is in education and research that she would carve out her legacy. 

While waiting to take up a placement in neonatal intensive care nursing at King Edward Memorial Hospital, she got a call from the WA College of Advanced Education to teach nursing students.  

That call would lead to her to a long and distinguished academic career, including a trailblazing appointment as the country’s first Indigenous head of a university school of nursing at Murdoch University. 

“I had no idea at the time. It was when one of the Elders rang me and she said you're the one – there is no one else that’s held that role.” 

In that inaugural role, Professor Marriott AM set the school up, including establishing a dedicated Indigenous nursing pathway with Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre that is still operating today. 

“What we needed then – and still need today – was more Aboriginal nurses in our hospitals,” Professor Marriott AM said. 

Representation is absolutely critical to closing the gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal women and families.

That drive to improve health outcomes is what led her to establish the Aboriginal Health Research Group at Murdoch in 2014, which would grow into the Ngangk Yira Institute for Change in just under a decade.  

It’s there that Professor Marriott AM has built her legacy, advising the World Health Organisation on practices for pre-term births, continuing to increase Indigenous representation in research and hospitals, and establishing culturally safe models of maternity care. 

That legacy sits alongside individual accolades as a Member of the Order of Australia and a place in the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame.  

While she never made it to her placement at King Edward Memorial Hospital all those years ago, it’s there she delivered one of her proudest achievements. 

“We had been working with Aboriginal communities throughout Western Australia to identify the needs of Aboriginal women giving birth in metropolitan and regional centres for more than a decade” Professor Marriott AM said. 

What we found was that existing healthcare didn’t recognise the potential issues and unique barriers faced by Aboriginal women - maternal health systems were not culturally sensitive or culturally secure.

“When we took this to the Minister for Health of Western Australia at the time and now Premier, the Hon Roger Cook, he recognised the problem and saw merit in our solution.”  
 
In that role, Mr Cook funded the establishment of an Aboriginal Maternity Group Practice at the Women and Newborn Health Service at King Edward Memorial Hospital, which became operational last year.   
 
“It’s the realisation of what feels like a lifetime’s work for me and a big step towards changing the Government’s ethos in relation to maternity care for Aboriginal mothers.”  

This is just one example of the lasting change that Professor Marriott AM has delivered over the course of twenty years at Murdoch University and an entire adult life devoted to improving health and social equity for Aboriginal people.  

However, those that know her won’t be surprised that the pinnacle of her career is more humble. 

“All the progress we’ve made and the recognition along the way mean a lot to me, but one thing has more meaning than anything else,” Professor Marriott AM said.  

“It’s Auntie Marie Taylor, Auntie Doreen Nelson, Auntie Hanson, Uncle Fred, Auntie Millie Penny saying ‘we stand with you, we stand behind you, we trust you.’” 

“This has happened at so many times, and critical times too.  That's the pinnacle of my career because they bring meaning to what we do.” 

The changemaker from the Kimberley has always remained aware that she is a guest on Noongar Country and has been for most of her life. So, to be embraced and supported by Noongar Elders is what has made everything possible. 

“Aunty Marie blessed us with the name for Ngangk Yira and without her and the Elders it doesn't exist. Without the community, it doesn't exist.” 

Today, the fire in Professor Marriott AM still burns as brightly as ever as she looks to the future and the work still to be done. 

“There's so much unfinished business,” she said. 

While there is disparity, while there is inequity, while there is embedded, systemic racism, then our work isn't done.  

What she has always wanted – and has achieved some of this already – is the power and influence to change policy.  

“It is only through policy change that you'll have sustained changes that are informed by the evidence that we've got.  

“So, tomorrow, we will continue striving for that.”