First Nations readers are advised this article contains the names of people who have died.
The theme of NAIDOC Week this year is ‘For our Elders,’ an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contributions of First Nations Elders and the roles they play as “cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and our loved ones.”
We asked five members of our local First Nations community about the Elders they admire. Take the time to learn a little more about these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and their contribution to their communities and their culture.
Aunty Daphne Milward, Yorta Yorta Elder and 2022 Victorian Senior of the Year
My grandfather William Cooper, Uncle William Ferguson who is also a family connection, and Uncle Jack Patton. They are all leaders of the 1900s and were major activists in our part of the country.
I admire them greatly because they stepped forward and started giving us a voice and looking at trying to get equal status for our people within the wider community, which we’re still endeavoring to do.
- Discover more about William Cooper, one of the founders of the Australian Aborigine’s League, and his work advocating and lobbying for the rights of First Nations people: William Cooper | First Peoples – State Relations (firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au)
Simone Thomson, Wurundjeri and Yorta Yorta woman and artist
There are two Aboriginal Elders past and present that I must acknowledge who I admire and look up to. Firstly my mother’s mother, my grandmother Aunty Geraldine Briggs, who is a beautiful, strong, matriarch warrior woman. She was at the forefront of the movement along with a lot of the other really strong Elders and leaders of the day, such as Sir Douglas Nichols, Uncle Jack Patton and Uncle William Cooper.
My grandmother was part of the movement from the Cummeragunja walk-off, which was so instrumental in making change for Aboriginal people at the time.
Also my mother, Aunty Zita Thomson, who I look up to and learn from every single day culturally. She’s a very strong cultural person who lives Culture behind closed doors as well, not just in front of the cameras, and I really admire that. She’s a keeper of Culture and knowledge and language, and that’s so important that all of those old ways are still instilled in myself and in my children. She has so much integrity and is very calm when she speaks and tries to ensure that knowledge doesn’t stop with her.
She’s very generous with sharing her knowledge and her stories to make sure that all of the knowledge of our Elders and past leaders is passed down so we can continue to share that orally as our tradition goes.
- Read more about the Cummeragunja walk-off, the first mass strike of Aboriginal people in protest of work and living conditions at Cummeragunja Station: Cummeragunja residents protest against cruel treatment – Deadly Story
Helen Baldwin, Gunaikurnai woman
Evonne Goolagong; she is such as great tennis player and a great ambassador for Australia, I admire her very much.
Ricky Baldwin, Gunaikurnai man and 2023 Knox Citizen of the Year
Local Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Val Scarratt. For me she’s a saint. She’s had more than 40 young Aboriginal kids in out of home care, and the impact she’s made on these young kids’ lives is truly amazing.
Andrew Peters, Yarra Yarra and Yorta Yorta man and Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies
There have been so many great Elders and leaders in our communities, it would be really hard to pick one. Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin is a clear one, Aunty Di Kerr, Uncle Dave Wandin of course.
The one that stands out to me obviously is my late mum, Aunty Dot Peters. Mum brought me up with an appreciation of culture without really forcing it upon me, so she let me learn at my own pace which I really appreciated and enjoyed and I’m still learning. The legacy she left was around respect, caring and sharing which was a key message she always gave me. And she was really open – she wasn’t an aggressive person by any stretch – so she’s taught me to have the patience to deal with people who don’t know what they’re talking about. She’s given me patience to deal with people who have racist attitudes and it’s serviced me really well in my career now as an educator. In dealing with the community that’s a really great trait to have and I’m really thankful to her; hopefully I’m carrying on her legacy in the work that I’m doing now.
