indigenous.gov.au ? The inspirational Mary Davis

Aunty Mary Davis and friends, NSW. Photo: courtesy University of Wollongong.

The late Mary Davis is renowned as a champion of early childhood education and human rights.

Aunty Mary Davis?s efforts in early childhood education have been acknowledged through a university scholarship, while her work in women?s equality from the 1960s until her passing in 2007 led the Illawarra International Women?s Day Committee to name an award in her honour.

A member of the Stolen Generations, Davis was forced to work as a domestic servant before raising her family in a car body at Coomaditchie Aboriginal reserve near Wollongong in New South Wales, a past her family says helped build her strong sense of social justice.

Davis?s son Richard Davis says she believed the only way Indigenous people could better themselves was through education. The University of Wollongong?s The Aunty Mary Davis Scholarship for Early Years Education is continuing her legacy by helping to produce a new generation of Indigenous educators of children aged five and under.

The University of Wollongong?s Dean of Education, Paul Chandler, believes Davis was an ideal person to honour with an education scholarship.

?Aunty Mary was an unbelievably strong role model for early childhood education. She believed that if you invested heavily in the early years of a child?s life, all else follows.?

Richard Davis acknowledges that his mother?s efforts influence the work he does in the Illawarra.

?It?s an honour to have her as my mother. I get a lot of my drive from doing what I do from her, trying to do the best for my community. But they?re big shoes to fill,? he says.

Throughout her life, Davis worked tirelessly for the betterment of Indigenous people throughout the Illawarra region between Sydney and Wollongong.

In the 1960s she worked with local union head Fred Moore to found the South Coast Aboriginal Advancement League and played a significant role in the 1967 referendum on recognition of Aboriginal people.

She set up the Noogaleek Children?s Centre, successfully advocated for houses to be built at Coomaditchie and helped others in need, like local woman Lindy Lawler.

?She was such a beautiful woman and was like a mother to me. I?m a Stolen Generations child as well and she was someone you could turn to when you were in trouble or wanted to know about Aboriginal culture,? Lawler says.

?I would have been lost without Aunty Mary.?

16 May 2011

Source: http://www.indigenous.gov.au/index.php/stories/the-inspirational-mary-davis/

dancing with the stars results tank medtronic sons of anarchy george michael