Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I start by acknowledging the traditional owners and First Peoples of the land, particularly elders of my electorate of Werriwa. Today we are mourning the loss of one of our special citizens, Aunty Mae Robinson, a Gamilaraay woman, on Tuesday this week. Aunty Mae endured systematic cultural discrimination, having been born in 1942 in regional New South Wales as an Aboriginal woman. However, she led a cultural revolution in Kempsey and the town became one of engagement, warmth and equality. But, upon being awarded a Commonwealth scholarship, she was then forcibly removed from her family and sent to Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls Training Home.

Aunty Mae's career was centred in education in Western Sydney, and she was an elder on the campus at Western Sydney University. In 2018 she was honoured at the university, with the foyer of the new Liverpool campus building being named the Aunty Mae Foyer. Aunty Mae was so eloquent, and was renowned for her grace and humility. She said at the opening:

It’s about giving to others. All my life I wanted to be a teacher, and that's what I am, a teacher and a teacher of my culture.

I pass my condolences to her family, particularly her husband, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.