Magic in the unknown

CASSIE TWEMLOW | Communications & Marketing Officer

From humble beginnings in Normanton, northern Queensland, to travelling the world with Snoop Dogg, Cameron Callope has lived many different lives in his 47 years. Currently embarking on a degree in Medicine, he doesn't seem ready to slow down just yet...just try something new.

Cameron representing St Peters in Track & Field (circa 1991)

Cameron with Snoop Dogg in 2014.

Cameron Callope (1992) is a softly spoken slightly imposing man. The latter trait played to his favour when he went by the stage name ‘C-Roc’ in Australia’s first aboriginal rap group in the mid-90s. A fierce name for a gentle giant.

Cameron only attended St Peters for a short time in the early 90s however, he says his time here had a great "impact on him.

“I believe St Peters gave me the platform to know how to operate in a world where the doors of opportunity open and all I had to do was walk through,” Cameron told me.

“[Whilst at school] we had a band and used to rehearse above Luther House. We’d put on shows and charge people to come and see us and get a full house!". ON days leading up to a school show, “It wasn’t unusual for me to hear, ‘Dr Dron wants to see you’ and he’d call me into his office, annoyed, because I was putting up band posters all around the school. We were petrified of him!”

The band that Cameron was a part of at St Peters consisted of boys from ‘all over’.

“It was a couple of PNG guys, two Indigenous guys, and non-Indigenous Australian guys. I played music back home [in Normanton] but, St Peters all of a sudden allowed me access to artists who came from very different backgrounds, which means they saw music differently. They played differently,” he explains.

Post-school, Cameron played in bands but never really ‘made it’ until he started his own rap group, Native Ryme, in 1994.

Native Ryme were the first nationally recognised Indigenous rap group in Australia and in 1998 became the first domestic hip hop group to win a national music award, a Deadly Award. From here the band went on to play and tour with The Cruel Sea and, later, Naughty by Nature, gaining them international recognition.

Cameron with his Legend Award from the Australian Independent Music Awards & Music Oz, 2013.

Cameron presenting Urban Artist of the Year at the Australian Independent Music Awards in 2012.

Cameron working with remote area Indigenous communities.

The limelight kept shining as ‘C-Roc’ was soon contacted by Snoop Dogg who then opened up more doors to the Kardashians, Johnny Depp and Justin Bieber, to name a few.

However, eventually Cameron felt the need to step back from the limelight.

“It was a big chunk of my life and it served its purpose. I had a foundation from St Peters and I built on it. It was strong and that was built up here [points to his head]. But in all honesty, I was building towards something that my heart wanted. And I didn't oppress it, I let it go where I wanted to go … but I always had my essence open to something that would call me.”

And something entirely different was calling Cameron.

“There was always that inner child saying, ‘hey, don't forget why we did this. Don't forget why we went to St Peters.’ You know, there's always a whisper in my ear.”

As a result, Cameron is currently in his third year of Medicine at UQ. He was the first ever first-year student to be offered a place as a Medical Research Scholar at the Child Health Research Centre and has been personally endorsed by the Chancellor of UQ, Peter Varghese, as an Indigenous Medical Students Mentor.

“I'm going to do the Doctor Public Health first because, I think, owing to my life skills, I'm more valuable around a policy table to talk about my life experiences and diversity,” Cameron said.

Later this year, Cameron will attend Harvard University in Boston, USA, to further his studies.

Cameron took the leap into the unknown after having shoulder surgery and meeting his orthopaedic surgeon with ‘magic hands’. From this point on, he decided he wanted magic hands too.

From his humble beginnings to international rap artist to medical student, Cameron really has come full circle.

“It was having the courage to be the first; to trailblaze and put a blueprint and system in place. To start from scratch and do it.

“I had a video diary and I preached to everybody that you can be anybody you want to be in life. I'm going to prove it. I'm walking out of the music industry, which paid me lots of money, and I'm going to go down a path now that I don't know how it's going to work out, but I'm willing to go.”

Cameron is definitely on the road to success and we wish him the best of luck in his years of study ahead of him.