Australia lauds indigenous Rhodes Scholar

Rebecca Richards is the first indigenous Australian to win a Rhodes Scholarship. Photo / Supplied

The daughter of an Outback stockman has been named Australia's first indigenous Rhodes Scholar.

Rebecca Richards, a 23-year-old University of Adelaide anthropology student, was also the first of her family to finish high school.

She will further her passion for indigenous history and culture when she takes up her position at Oxford University in England in September next year.

Her Australia-at-Large Rhodes Scholarship will allow her to read for a master's of philosophy in material anthropology and museum ethnography.

"I am just stunned. This is an amazing honour and I can't wait to study in the oldest and most established anthropological museum in the world."

Richards was raised in South Australia's Riverland and is from the Adnyamathanha and Barngarla peoples. She grew up on the family fruit block, riding horses and dirt bikes and swimming in the Murray.

She works as an indigenous cadet project officer with the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

This year she also completed an internship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor James McWha said it was hoped Richards' scholarship would inspire more indigenous Australians to pursue higher education.

- AAP