Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank Senator Singh for allowing me to go before her in tonight's debate. Last Friday in Cherbourg in Queensland—as you well know, Mr Acting Deputy President Furner—the community mourned the passing of a wonderful woman. Aunty Penny Bond, who was Penelope Embrey-Cobbo, was born in Cherbourg on 18 October 1932 under a dray during a very wild storm. Her parents named her Moomba, which means storm in Kabi Kabi. She was known throughout her life as a stormy person. I am deeply grateful to the people who put together the beautifully moving eulogy that was read at Aunty Penny's ceremony for some of the content of my speech this evening.

Aunty Penny was the daughter of Dennis Embrey and Kathleen Starlight and the granddaughter of Fred Embrey Kabi Kabi and Sylvia Cobbo. Aunty Penny is a woman who reflects the history of Aboriginal people in Queensland, particularly in south-west Queensland. She went into the dormitory system in Cherbourg and was eventually taken in by her uncle and aunt—who are now both deceased, of course. When her uncle died, Aunty Penny returned to the dormitory system and grew up under Queensland's Aborigines act, in an era when women and men were actually farmed out as domestics and labourers. Aunty Penny's first placement was at the Cherbourg Hospital as a nurse's aide, where she fondly recalled nursing the many friends and people in the community. Following that placement—which was not at her wish; it was actually under the determination of the Aborigines act at the time—Aunty Penny was sent out west to work as a domestic on various stations. She worked as a cook at St Xavier's college and around the Stanthorpe and Killarney areas on properties as a cook, a domestic or a nanny in the service of the families. When she returned to Cherbourg she worked as a domestic with the Perrett family around the Murgon district.

Around 1961 Aunty Penny was granted an exemption, a process that none of us truly understands. She was allowed an exemption from the act and moved to Brisbane to work. She at this stage was slowly beginning to become familiar with the politics affecting all Indigenous Australians, and she was very frustrated and angry at the restrictions and the situation. She started to publicly and privately question the government and was determined to become part of the change to recognise all Indigenous people. Her first meeting was at the OPAL centre, which we know well in Queensland and where she gained good insight into the plight of Aboriginal people and worked closely with a number of wonderful Queensland Aboriginal people.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Bonner, as I recall.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Bonner indeed, Senator Macdonald. In 1962 Aunty Penny had her first child, and later she met her partner for life, Mr Ken Bond. Mr Bond was eventually posted to Papua New Guinea as an Australian government patrol officer, and Aunty Penny went with him to live and work in New Guinea. She actually moved about that area quite openly at the time. In 1966 they returned to Australia and took up residence in Sydney. Their youngest daughter, Beverly, who many of us know and work with very closely on the Sunshine Coast, was born at Mount Hagen in PNG. Aunty Penny became very involved in women's and children's issues when she was working in PNG and worked closely with her husband to support him in his work. During the time in PNG they made long-lasting friends and were able to mix with many cultures. Aunty Penny treasured the time that she had in PNG and talked about it often in later life. As PNG moved towards independence, Aunty Penny and her husband, Mr Bond, returned to Australia to join their children, who were then at boarding school. Mr Bond gave up his job and then worked with the Australian Department of Aboriginal Affairs and was transferred all around Queensland. Once again, Penny moved with him and worked across the country, staying with her interest in women's and children's rights and also the issues around political processes and the independence of Aboriginal people.

When Aunty Penny moved back to Cherbourg, she worked very closely with women's groups there and was known from that time on as a great inspiration to women in their situation in Cherbourg and also generally. I first heard of Aunty Penny in the 1990s, and I remember clearly that she was a strong advocate for including women in all elements of political activity. She spoke out strongly to ensure that women's voices were heard and to make sure that women were active in the ATSIC processes in elections and also stood for office. She got deeply involved in a number of International Women's Day activities and again was an inspiration to all of us, teaching us much about Aboriginal culture. She was a true driving force in Aboriginal rights in South-East Queensland.

From an early age, Penny's elders instilled in her the importance of her people, her country and her culture. She worked to make a genuine difference. Her daughter Beverly Hand remembers her mother as someone who worked selflessly for the advancement of Aboriginal people. Ms Hand said:

A lot of the work she did set the basis for freedom and rights of Aboriginal people today. She touched everyone, she didn't just touch politicians or Aboriginal people, she touched people from all walks of life.

One of the things that were most important in Penny talking about the role of Aboriginal people in widening knowledge was her long-term involvement with the Woodford Folk Festival. I am sure many people remember her activities at the folk festival, which we all enjoyed—most importantly yarning with people about Aboriginal culture and their arts. Many of us, I think, got some of our best experiences of learning about Aboriginal culture from talking to her. Sim and Pat Symons helped with the original involvement of Aboriginal people in the Woodford Folk Festival. Sim said:

My main recollection of Aunty Penny's involvement in Woodford was a very strong sense that here was someone with a direct connection to the Woodford site and also into the area that I have lived for 40 years. Her presence also meant a lot to the visiting Aboriginal groups who were always keen to make contact with an elder from the country they were visiting.

She was a past mistress of the Indigenous welcome and made everyone feel welcome in their area. In 2000 Penny received an honorary fellowship from the University of the Sunshine Coast for her work as an adviser on Indigenous issues during the establishment of that university. She maintained a very close relationship with the university and was extremely proud when her daughter Penny followed in her legacy and was recognised with a fellowship earlier this year for her work in environmental education and conservation. She was a strong advocate for education for her people and worked hard so that her family and her friends were able to enjoy the best possible education. Former Maroochy Shire councillor, reconciliation campaigner and friend Charmaine Foley said that Penny was someone who had introduced many people to Indigenous issues for the first time

Because of her gentle ways, her strength and her capacity to teach and give and the way she told her story with such dignity she really helped people to understand the issues Aboriginal people faced. Her strength as a proud Aboriginal woman gave mentorship and courage to other women to stand up for their beliefs.

At the service last Friday in Cherbourg, so many people came together to pay tribute to such a wonderful women. One of the clearly impressive things was that on the service sheet that came out to people it listed her very many family and friends who gathered together. She was so proud that her children were able to work in various elements of public service and that her grandchildren were able also to be so successful, to learn from their grandmother's strength and to work more clearly across the world.

We are proud of working with Aunty Penny. She will be missed, because she will not be with us around the place in Cherbourg any longer, but her enormous spirit, courage and commitment will always be with us. She never stopped promoting Aboriginal culture and rights. I am told that she had a three-part statement for how she was going to live her life. She believed that to have a healthy life you had to (1) have a clear memory, understanding and treasuring of the past; (2) live a worthwhile present and be active; and (3) plan for the future. The people who gathered in Cherbourg on Friday and her very many friends in Australia and internationally who knew of this woman know that we will have the memories of the past, which are with us; that we can live with our loss now; but, most importantly, that we can understand Aunty Penny's strong future and the fact that Aboriginal women—particularly Aboriginal women—have learnt much from us. We are all stronger for having known her. Vale, Aunty Penny.