Mum Shirl's Autobiography Of The Candidate

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BIOGRAPHY OF THE CANDIDATE Shirley Smith, or better known as Mum Shirl was born on the 22nd of November 1921 on the Erambie mission—a mission near Cowra, Central Western New South Wales. Shirl’s parents worked as drovers in a town named Grenfell. As well as this Shirl’s father was a counselor at the mission however his powers were extremely limited, such is evident in his inability to prevent Shirl’s grandfather’s expulsion from the mission when she was six. Shirl shared an extremely close bond and was heavily inspired by her Grandfather. She describes him as a calm and wise man, who had ethereal connection with the country. Following his expulsion, Shirl’s Grandfather moved to Waterloo Sydney, where his brother helped build him a three bedroom …show more content…

Shirl’s education was extremely limited. The education provided at the mission was very poor, classes were take by the mission manager’s wife who was not a qualified teacher. As well as this Shirl was largely excluded from classes due to her epilepsy. After being expelled from the mission, Shirl occasionally attended St Brigid’s School where she learnt most of the alphabet, but didn’t learn to read or write. While living in Sydney, Shirl’s brother Laurie was sent to gaol for breaking an entering. Shirl made frequent visits to her brother during his time in prison, this would influence her contributions to the indigenous community later. After getting married later, Shirl moved to Surry Hills paying ten pounds a week. Shirl later got pregnant and moved to Kempsey to live with her husband’s family. Shirl later discovered that the local hospital was segregated and returned to Sydney, however her husband and daughter moved back to Kempsey whilst Shirl stayed in Sydney. Following this, Shirl decided to seek employment and applied at Mr. Beard’s box factory, with the knowledge that he was a kind man who happily employed Aboriginal women and offered high pay rates. Mr Beard also understood that Shirl had commitments …show more content…

Her faith caused her to give the little she had to others in need. According to Shirl, her pension was spread very thinly to help as many people as possible.Shirl consistently took foster care of kids whose parents had been imprisoned or were unable to take care of. Shirl encouraged these children to go to school so they would not have to live a life of poverty and could become activists like her to promote civil rights. During her time living in Redfern, Mum Shirl also became increasingly involved in political activism, particularly regarding the indigenous community. In order to address the need of better medical care for Aboriginals, Shirl establish the Aboriginal Medical service. Shirl also established the Aboriginal legal service so that Aboriginals could have proper representation in court. Increasingly, Shitl was relied on to represent the growing number of politically active Aboriginals. Despite having an improper education, Shirl gained a firm grasp of the democratic process. As a result of this, before the 1972 election, Shirl spoke in front of three thousand people with Gough Whitlam. The Whitlam government was subsequently elected. In february 1975 (after three failed attempts in November 1973, April 1974 and October 1974) , the racial discrimination bill was introduced into parliament. This was ultimately passed in June

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