Mum (Shirl) Smith

Shirley Smith (22 November 1921 – 28 April 1998), better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Aboriginal Australian and activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians. She was a founding member of the Aboriginal Legal Service, Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Children’s Service,and the Aboriginal Housing Company in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

Early life

Colleen Shirley Perry was born of Wiradjuri descent in 1921 at Erambie Reserve, Cowra, in New South Wales. Her married name was Shirley Smith.

Smith attended the Erambie Mission School, although her education was impaired by epilepsy, at a time when medication for the disease did not exist. She moved with her family in the mid 1930s and became a well-known resident of South Sydney. Although Smith could not read or write, she spoke sixteen Aboriginal dialects.

Building community

Smith began to visit Aboriginal people in jail after one of her brothers was incarcerated and she discovered that her visits were beneficial to other prisoners as well. Her community activism also saw her accompanying indigenous people who were unfamiliar with the legal system to court when they had been charged with a crime. Her nickname came from her habit of replying, "I’m his Mum," whenever officials queried her relationship with the prisoners - the name by which she became widely known.

Because of her work visiting aboriginal prisoners, Mum Shirl is the only woman in Australia to have been given unrestricted access to prisons in New South Wales. "She'd be at one end of the state one day, and seen at the other end of the state the next day. The department wasn't getting her from A to B. She used to rely on family and friends to get her around." said Ron Woodham from NSW Corrective Services.^[1]. Later the Department of Corrective Services revoked her pass, making her prisoner support work near impossible.^[2]

Smith's welfare work, however, was not confined only to prisons and the legal system. She also spent considerable time and money finding homes for children whose parents could not look after them, and helping displaced children to find their own parents again. The children with nowhere to go often ended up living with her. By the early 1990s she had raised over 60 children. Likewise, many people with no family or friends in Sydney arrived at Mum Shirl’s Redfern house seeking shelter.

In 1970, Smith, along with Ken Brindle, and Chicka and Elsa Dixon, were the guiding force behind a group of young Aboriginal men and women who were involved in the campaign for land rights by the Gurindji people. This same group, with Fred Hollows and others helped to establish Aboriginal Medical Service in July 1971. They also helped establish the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1971, the Aboriginal Black Theatre, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Aboriginal Children’s Service, the Aboriginal Housing Company and the Detoxification Centre at Wiseman’s Ferry.^[3]

Committed Catholic

"Mum Shirl" was an integral and committed part of the Catholic Church of St Vincent's, Redfern with the renowned Fr Ted Kennedy. She was a devout Catholic and a mistress of the bon mot: one of her favourites being "There's nothing out of plumb with the Catholic religion; it's the way Catholics practise it". Local clergyman Father Kennedy said of her: "She comforted the afflicted - but she didn't promise not to afflict the comfortable". Smith also gave regularly of her time to visit Australian (largely) caucasian schools and communities as part of educating the broader Australian community on Aboriginal issues and concerns.

Awards

Smith's work has been commemorated with an Member of the British Empire (1975), and an Order of Australia (1985). The National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee named Mum Shirl as Aborigine of the Year in 1990. Just a few months before her death, the National Trust acknowledged her as one of Australia’s living national treasures.^[4]

Mum Shirl died on 28 April 1998 and is survived by her daughter Beatrice, her sister Harriet and her brother Joe along with her grandchildren, great-grandchildren nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and great, great nieces and nephews. Two years after her death, Bronwyn Bancroft and the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative organised a tribute exhbition of art works in her honour.^[5]

References

1. ^ MUM 'SHIRL' SMITH ABC website, Accessed 14 August 2008
2. ^ Australian Women Biographical Entry MumShirl Accessed 14 August 2008
3. ^ Mum Shirl, Mum Shirl: an autobiography, Mammoth Australia, 1992, pp 107 ISBN 1863301445
4. ^ Dr Andrew Refshauge, Deputy Premier, Death Of Mrs Colleen Shirley Smith - Ministerial Statement, Parliament of NSW, 29 April 1998. Accessed 14 August 2008
5. ^ Jopson, Debra (22 November 2000). "Strong but fair, the Redfern reformer who didn't cop it.". Sydney Morning Herald. 

• Mum Shirl with the assistance of Bobbi Sykes, Mum Shirl: an autobiography, Mammoth Australia, 1992, ISBN 18633014

External links

• Mum Shirl biog
• Parliament of NSW obit
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Smith, Mum, Shirl
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 November 1921
Place of birth
Date of death	28 April 1998
Place of death