Melbourne, Victoria Australia
Sharon Hughes was born 1963 in Wongan Hills, Western Australia and raised in Mullewa, 300 kilometers north east of Perth. She is one of eight children in her Yamitji family. She moved to Melbourne 1976 as a fourteen year old, finished high school in 1979 and entered a printing machinist trade two days later. At this time Sharon didn't realise it was a male dominated trade. This realization did not stop her. Sharon figured that there was a possibility she could be one of the first woman to do so and in particular as an Aboriginal woman. After completing the apprenticeship, she started working at Sybylla Press, a small women's printing and publishing house. She worked in the printing industry for about ten years.
Sharon decided to return to study, completed an Associate Diploma in Social Science and worked in this field while she studied. She also tutored primary aged students, which opened another door to work in education. While thoroughly enjoying the work in this field, she was able to relate her experiences and connect with Aboriginal students. Although she loved reading and writing as a child, it was always a struggle as an Aboriginal person and was never encouraged; but only put down. Her determination began as a Koori Educator in her adult life. It gave her an opportunity to empower children to experience an opposite life than her own. Sharon found this to be a challenge. Writing books has always been something she had always talked about for a long time, especially books that her own people could identify and relate. Sharon started working at another school in the same role. This school had a large population of Aboriginal children and much more supportive of Aboriginal issues. It was in this environment that children were sent to her during literacy lesson because they weren't engaging so they thought they should write their own books. Sixteen years later, Sharon was filling in as Koori Educator at the same school, when an opportunity to write some books presented itself. It was also at this time Sharon saw an advertisement to study for B.A. in Creative Writing at Bachelor Institute Indigenous Tertiary Education in the Northern Territory. Two weeks into the course, she received a phone call to say the books were going to be published. The three books were co-written with three other Aboriginal people. Three years later, Sharon also graduated. She would love to have the time where she does not have to work and continue to write. She had worked in many areas to increase her skills and knowledge in order to choose to work where she feels she is best suited at that time. Most importantly she works hard at finding ways to empower her people to be what they want to be, especially children.
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2016 International Women’s Day – Step-It-Up for Equality
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