Castlemaine teacher, educational consultant and author Rosemary McKenry has received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to education in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.
Rosie said she was shocked to receive the award honour.
“There are so many amazing teachers working in our Indigenous communities and in the English as a Second Language space. I feel a little embarrassed to be singled out,” Rosie said.
The fact the awards are the first under King Charles held special meaning for the retired educator.
“I actually had the opportunity to meet a young Prince Charles while I was living and teaching at a school in Papua New Guinea in the 1960s with my first husband and our three little boys,” she said.
“He visited our school with fellow students from Timbertop and I found him to be a lovely boy.”
Rosie later worked as a teacher and educational consultant working with Koorie students in the Shepparton region, which led her to co-author the book Deadly eh, Cuz! : Teaching Speakers of Koorie English (1996).
She also worked as a teacher of spoken and written English at Bendigo Kangan Institute of TAFE from 1998-2007 and with Greek students in Richmond, which inspired her book See Youse Later: Teaching Literacy to Australians, Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Educational Council (2005).
“I met a girl there who made me realise that students wanted to learn Australian English in order to fit in with the other kids,” she said.
In the late 90s and early 2000s Rosie enjoyed numerous stints working in Western Australian schools, including Indigenous communities in the Kimberley.
“It was life changing. I came to understand that English was a second or sometimes third language for these children, and educational methods and resources needed to recognise this and capture the local language and teachings for future generations,” she said.
Rosie co-authored Mandajarra Nyikina: Cultural Resources for Nyikina Language and Cultural Codes, Madjulla (2004).
The educator settled in Castlemaine in 1998 and married her second husband Bruce Mitchell in 2004 at Buda.
Bruce has joined Rosie on various trips to the west and the pair have also collaborated on a number of educational projects.
Rosie said one of their highlights was working with South Sudanese employees at Don KR Castlemaine.
“I have been a member of Rural Australians for Refugees for many years, and I was impressed by the generosity of the Castlemaine community from the outset. We had a fantastic pool of community volunteers who assisted us in this work,” Rosie said.
“They have a lovely classroom up there, but it soon occurred to Bruce and I that the majority of English as a Second Language educational material is geared towards young children.
“Together, we produced 50 books through his company ‘Publishing & Data’ covering three levels targeted for teens and adults and these books have since been sold all over Australia and in other countries.”