Shirley Coleen Smith (1921-1998) was an activist and humanitarian dedicated to securing welfare for Aboriginal Australians.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s Local Legend was an activist and humanitarian dedicated to securing welfare for Aboriginal Australians. To many, she was known as “Mum Shirl.” Anyone who needed a place to stay in Sydney knew they could call on her for help. By the end of her life, she’d helped to raise over sixty children in need of a home. Let’s talk about Shirley Coleen Smith.
Shirley was born on November 21st, 1921, on the Eramble Mission near Cowra, Australia, to Wiradjuri parents. From a young age, she watched her father work to secure a voice for Aboriginal people in local governance as a councilor on the mission.
When Shirley was 6, her grandfather was expelled from Eramble for reasons unknown. Shirley followed him and was raised by her grandparents in Cowra, in a new house her grandfather built under a railway bridge. Shirley and her grandfather were very close, and later in life, Shirley would often cite him as an inspiration for her work.
From birth, Shirley suffered from epilepsy. There was no medication or treatment for her condition at the time, so she couldn’t attend regular school. Instead, her grandfather homeschooled her. Though she never was able to read or write much English, her grandfather taught her how to speak 16 different Aboriginal languages.
As a young adult, Shirley moved to Sydney, the city where she’d spend most of her life. There, she met her husband, a professional boxer named Cecil Hazil. They originally planned to live with Cecil’s family in Kempsey, but once Shirley realized the local hospital was segregated, she moved back to Sydney. She stayed there and gave birth to a baby girl named Beatrice, while Cecil remained in Kempsey.
Shirley raised Beatrice on her own for a few years, but her still-untreated epilepsy made it difficult to keep a job. Eventually Shirley sent a 3-year-old Beatrice to live with Cecil’s family.
On her own, Shirley started up a new practice that would define her life’s work. Her brother Laurie was imprisoned and Shirley began to visit him regularly. While chatting with him, she also got to know other inmates. She soon became a fixture in the prison’s visitor’s room. Even after Laurie was released, Shirley continued to show up to offer company to others.
When officers asked for her relationship to the inmates she saw, she always gave the same answer: “I’m their mum.” And so, the moniker of “Mum Shirl” stuck.
Shirley’s time at the prison significantly helped to better inmates’ experiences there. Her visits became such a common occurrence that the Department of Corrective Services issued her a pass to visit all of its prisoners.
Shirley’s dedication to helping others and advocating for Aboriginal rights continue to grow in the 1970s. She was brought in as a consultant for the Child Welfare Department and the Newtown police on cases involving the Aboriginal community. She also helped to establish countless organizations for Aboriginal welfare, including legal, medical, housing, detoxification, and children’s services.
Shirley also worked to better the lives of individuals directly. She rented houses for those without shelter, provided food to those in need, and pooled resources for people arriving to Sydney without friends or family. Perhaps most famously, she helped raise children without a home. Once again living up to her nickname, Mum Shirl became a mother to over sixty kids.
Since epilepsy had made it difficult to find a job, Shirley lived mostly off of pension checks.
Shirley’s activism entered the political arena in the 1970s, when she became one of many Aboriginal activists to support the Gurindiji land rights claim. She also publicly placed her support behind the Australian Labor Party in 1972 speaking alongside other activists at campaign events.
As her causes grew, national bodies recognized Shirley’s work. She was honored as a Member of the British Empire in 1977 and a Member of the Order of Australia in 1985. At both ceremonies, Shirley felt conflicted — though she was happy to raise awareness for her causes, she was all too aware that the very nations that were honoring her also barred her and other Aboriginal people from segregated spaces.
Throughout her life, Shirley also had a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. Though a lifelong Catholic, as were most people born in the Mission, Shirley left the church after experiencing discrimination at a mass. She returned 14 years later with a bang as an adviser to the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Shirley died on April 28th, 1998, at the age of 73.
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