Despite being 84 years old, Aunty Ruth Simms starts her day like she always has — heading to school.

For half a century, this dedicated Yuin woman has been educating young minds throughout the Illawarra region. She now holds the distinction of being the most tenured Aboriginal education officer in the New South Wales Department of Education.

Originating from La Perouse Reserve, located in the southern part of Sydney on Gamay and Dharawal lands, Aunty Ruth’s roots run deep.

Her recollections of the reserve are filled with nostalgia, from the “tin shacks” scattered along the waterfront to the joy of swimming in the ocean’s salty embrace.

She fondly remembers collecting wood for the massive bonfires that families would ignite as the evening set in along the beach.

“We used to go up into the bush, gather up bushes, cut down trees, sometimes even weeks in advance,” she tells SBS News.

“We’d drag them down to the reserve, and then we would light up bonfires. It was always a competition between the families, who could make the biggest bonfire.”

After the fires burned out, she watched her mother cook potatoes in the hot ash for her and her siblings before they feasted together under the stars.

She also remembers watching men from the reserve run fishing nets and pull in mullet for the community.

“The men used to run the nets; they’d be on the lookout,” she says.

“When the mullet run around the cove, depending on how big the dark shadow was, they could pick how many baskets of fish were in that haul — they could tell by the ripples in the water.”

For Aunty Ruth, her mother and father were her “first teachers”.

Her mother was a “very cultural woman” and the “best looking sheila [woman] in La Perouse”.

She would wander into the bush, collecting foliage from the tea tree bushes.

Returning home, she’d teach Ruth how to weave the leaves together to make the head of a broom, while her brother carved a handle out of soft wood.

“We didn’t have money to buy much. We didn’t have $20 for a broom, so she taught us how to make one,” she says.

When it came time to start school, Aunty Ruth enrolled at La Perouse Public School.

“I started way back in the 40s. We had the best teachers, let me say.”

There, sitting up straight behind her desk, she found her lifelong love of learning.

“When I graduated at 19, I still remember the chancellor of Sydney University saying that you can have a comma, you can have a semicolon, but you’ll never have a full stop in learning. I still believe that.”

Finding her calling

There weren’t many jobs going for those living along the south Sydney coast. Back then, most work was in the city’s factories.

But a teaching job came up on Yuin Country at Nowra Public School.

“I went for it, I was fortunate to get the position, and I’ve been in that position ever since,” she says.

Aunty Ruth was part of the first cohort of Aboriginal teacher aides in NSW — a role now recognised as Aboriginal Education Officers.

The roles were created to strengthen relationships between schools and Aboriginal families, support students’ learning, act as role models and ensure communities had a voice in their children’s education. 

“I still have the piece of paper with all 62 of our names printed out. I was so proud,” she says.

She started work on 19 November 1976.

Since then, Aunty Ruth has worked with thousands of children in the Illawarra, holding positions at Nowra Public School, Culburra Public School and Nowra East Public School.

“Not long after I started, I ran the homework centre at Nowra Public School. I was quoted to be the best homework centre in the district.

“I remember one day I was working with four little children at a table, and there was a little boy who stood up, probably in third class, and he said, ‘That was fun’.

“Now we, as teachers, are supposed to make learning fun.”

One of Aunty Ruth’s favourite times of the school year was camp.

She remembers caring for a large group of children and sometimes even teaching a little of her family’s knowledge.

“On school camps, I would take them out bush, show them different plants, or what was medicinal,” she says.

“All the little girls would have their own tea tree broom outside their tents.”

Aunty Ruth has no particular teaching style, but the impact of her work is evident in the people who still stop to thank her.

“I was in Woollies about a month ago, about to pay for my groceries. And this Aboriginal man came up to me and said, ‘You’re not going to pay for those’. I thought, well, excuse me!” she says.

“He said he was going to pay for them, that ‘no amount of money will ever make up for what you did for me from kindergarten to year six at Nowra Primary School.’

A life of service

Beyond her work in schools, Aunty Ruth has served her community in a range of roles.

She’s a life member of the NSW Aboriginal Consultative Education Group, a non-profit organisation working to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for her service to Indigenous education and her community.

Since 1987, she has attended every World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education —  a global gathering of Indigenous educators and communities — and is also a life member of the NSW Public Service Union.

“I’ve been a union member since I started work. I’ve always paid my union fees.”

Aunty Ruth also recently became a published author, releasing the children’s book Muttonfish Magic through Aboriginal publisher Magabala Books.

Amid her many achievements, she has also experienced hardship and trauma. Through it all, she says she found solace in her work.

“I’ve always said that work has been a good medicine for me,” she says.

Aunty Ruth’s daughter Trudy says her mum’s work ethic shaped the family.

“[She taught us] when you wake up, you go to school, or you go to work. You never lose a day of school. You can be the best worker in the world, but unless you’re showing up day in and day out — what’s the value?” she tells SBS News.

On 25 June, Aunty Ruth was presented with a certificate from the NSW Department of Education in recognition of 50 years of service.

Department’s secretary Murat Dizdar says: “Aunty Ruth is a powerhouse in our South Coast schools — a fierce and trusted advocate for the students and families she serves.

“Over 50 years with the NSW Department of Education, she has positively shaped the lives of thousands, building strong connections between schools, families and community services so young people don’t fall through the cracks but instead thrive in their schooling,” he tells SBS News.

For Aunty Ruth, the past five decades have been devoted to that love of learning she first discovered sitting behind a desk at La Perouse Public School.

“The value of education is so important today.

“We have a good public education system, and it’s every child’s right to use it.”