My name is Kodie Bedford. My country is in the East Kimberley around Halls Creek and I grew up in Geraldton.
After completing year 12 I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life. I stayed in Geraldton for a year working and then decided it was time to move to the big city and give university a shot. Yes, I actually thought Perth was big. Continuing on with my indecisiveness, I wasn’t even quite sure what I wanted to study- the trouble was I was interested in everything. I enrolled in Arts because it gave me the opportunity to study most of my interests; English, history, linguistics and communications. I had always gravitated to the art of storytelling. With great support of the School of Indigenous Studies I completed my Bachelor in Arts (Communications).
Then came the hard part - what do I do with it?
It turns out I could do a lot - I worked in government, both State and Federal departments for a bit, interned at The West Australian. Eventually I decided journalism was right for me, I was able to write and still explore many different subjects. One day I could be reporting on sport, the next day I could be reporting on Indigenous affairs. I moved to an even bigger city in Sydney and worked as a cadet journalist for the SBS network rotating throughout different news and current affair programs. I then I became a fulltime video journalist for Indigenous current affairs program Living Black and was able to travel the country with my video camera recording stories of our mob.
My journey into storytelling has now taken me away from journalism and into documentary making. I now work for the Indigenous Programs Unit for the ABC network in Sydney on shows like Message Stick as researcher and associate producer. I have also taken up the challenge in doing a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney while I’m over here.
I’m a very long way from home but I’m enjoying the journey I’m on and the places it takes me.