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25 February 2026: Former University of Canberra Chancellor Emeritus Professor Tom Calma AO has presented the first scholarship in a program 15 years in the making.
Postgraduate student Remy Lee Morris, aKamilaroiwoman currently studying a Master of Public Health, was announced on Tuesday as the inaugural recipient of the Tom Calma Family Endowment Scholarship.
Ms Morris has been heavily involved in the design and compilation of the Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) Digital Repository and she only learned of the scholarship when Professor Calma announced her as the recipient at the repository’s launch.
Ms Morris beamed in disbelief as Professor Calma handed her an envelope outlining the details of the two-year scholarship. She will receive $50,000 a year over two years.
Ms Morris was rendered speechless by the announcement.
“I was confused as to what was happening and then I was ‘oh cool a scholarship, awesome … oh it’s for me, what!?’,” she said after the presentation at the event she’d organised. “I don’t know how to feel aside from grateful, forever grateful.”
It was Ms Morris’ involvement in TIS – a health promotion program started and championed by Professor Calma as the National Coordinator in 2010 – that prompted him to nominate her for the inaugural scholarship.
In announcing and awarding the scholarship, Professor Calma spoke of the importance of growing and developing young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders to be strong advocates.
“We see Remy as a person of the future to keep the candle burning for Tackling Indigenous Smoking and vaping” he said.
The scholarship was made possible by an endowment the Calma family have been contributing to since 2010, soon after Professor Calma first joined the University Council in 2008.
“Since then, I’ve been putting little bits of money aside, building up an endowment trust that is quite substantial now,” he said.
“The plan was to get it to a level where it would be self-sustaining, so the interest would be able to fund the scholarships. And it's in excess of $600,000 now, so we're kicking off the scholarship program.
“The form that it takes this time is a postgraduate scholarship, but in future years, it could change to undergraduate or other programs. It's still being determined, but it will be for any course at UC and will be for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students and refugee students.”
Professor Calma, an Elder of the Kungarakan people, member of the Iwaidja people and a lifelong human rights campaigner, has been involved in both Indigenous and mainstream education since the 1980s and said those two cohorts of students need extra support.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a lot of commencement at the university level, nationally. But completions are not always commensurate with commencements, and so often people pull out because they can't be financially supported as they go through,” he said.
Professor Calma is also keen to support refugee students, who can’t access financial support until they can get residential status in Australia.
For Ms Morris, the scholarship will take enormous pressure off to help her complete her studies.
“It means I can work less, focus on my studies and not have to worry about everything,” she said, getting emotional.
“I have been working on the digital repository, and then I work practically 10 different jobs, I work several casual jobs in the research field … and I create art as well, so it will be nice to focus on uni and live my life a little bit more.”
Her parents and fiancé were in the audience, all in the dark about the real reason she was encouraged to invite them, but were overflowing with pride in seeing her work on the TIS digital repository recognised, and then the scholarship awarded.
“I think the scholarship is solidifying that she’s going to complete the masters,” her mother Robyn said.
“I think she had been wavering, she was getting a little overwhelmed with having to work and study. It takes the pressure and stress off and re-centres her to keep doing what she’s doing.”
Vice-Chancellor Professor The Honourable Bill Shorten congratulated Ms Morris as she furthers her commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led public health and thanked the Calma family for their investment in Indigenous health and education.
The endowment fund is not Professor Calma’s first foray into philanthropy; he has funded book programs and food programs at various universities he’s been involved with, while also chipping away at this bigger goal.
“Part of this launch is to encourage others to say, look, if Tom and his family can do it. You know, others can also look at contributing into these scholarship programs, and even small contributions could go a long way when it goes into a university.”
“We're not big money earners but if you do it over a sustained period, it adds up, and if others wanted to, they could also pool their money into the endowment fund. The more money that we have, the higher return we'll be able to get and be able to offer more scholarships.”
“If you're an academic at UC, you can contribute a small amount out of your pay, and that just accumulates. And donations are tax deductible to universities, so there's a benefit for the individual.
To learn more about donating to the University, visit https://www.canberra.edu.au/give.
