AustLit

Robert Bagie has a strong commitment to his community. Born on Thursday Island, Bagie also lived in Townsville as a child. He began high school in Townsville before moving to Bamaga with his cousins where he completed his high school education. At about the age of 17, he went to Western Australia to work as a pearl diver for a Japanese company, in Kuri Bay, near Broome.

Bagie moved back to Injinoo, where he met his future wife Olive. Together they moved to Weipa and then to western Queensland where he worked as a ganger on the railway lines between Mt Isa and Richmond. He left this job to go back home to Injinoo, where he worked for two years at the community store. In 1988, he was elected to the Community Council. Then in 1989, Baige started training for the Broadcasting in Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS). A year later he became the BRACS operator and helped set up television programs that catered towards the Indigenous people of the area.