HLSC 120 Script Group Assessment 1 Shirley Smith PDF

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HLSC 120Indigenous Health and Culture

Assessment task 2 Group 3: Shirley Smith (Mum Shirl) 1. Describe the place where this person comes from in terms of country. Discuss why a connection to the country is significant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their community. Hello, everyone! Our group is going to present Shirley Smith. Now I am now going to talk about Shirley smith and how she started to help other Aboriginal people. Shirley Smith, who is known as “Perry”, “Mum Shirl”, and “Shirley Smith”, was born on 22 November 1921 on the Eramble Mission where she grew up with her grandparents. She imparted a particularly cozy relationship to her grandfather and, significantly after his demise, regularly looked to him as a wellspring of profound and passionate quality. She started her deep-rooted welfare work after her brother’s detainment when she understood that a large number of his individual detainees had no guests, not anyone with whom they could talk about their issues. At first at her sibling’s recommendation, she started to visit different detainees in the goal and, later, started to stretch out her visits to different goals in New South Wales. In the end, the Department of Corrective Service permitted her entrance to everyone of its detainees. She earned the epithet ‘MumShirl’ through her visits to the detainees. It reflected both the affection and the respect where they held her. It was the equivalent outside the jail framework. Her wilful endeavours for detainees, both high contrast, before long prompted her contribution help to Aboriginal individuals around sydney. She frequently discovered sanctuary, nourishment and companionship for those as of late showed up in the city, and worked energetically for the powerless, particularly youngsters, single parents, the penniless, the destitute and the heavy drinkers.

2. Describe the actions of this person, the history of these actions, and the legacy achieved. Thank you, Nisha, now I am going to discuss the actions and the legacy achieved by Shirley smith. Shirley Smith is an inspirational lady who has spent her lifetime in housing homeless, fighting against racism, comforting prisoners, helping outcasts, and employing unmarried mothers. Besides the mentioned facts, Shirley Smith is also known as Mother Teresa of Australia. She is an extraordinary woman who dedicated her time to indigenous land justices and to establish many charitable institutions. She used to visit her brother in prison while she used to visit him. She often used to chat with other prisoner offerings whatever aid she could provide. It was through her visit that she earned the nickname mum shirl as she used to pretend

HLSC 120Indigenous Health and Culture to be the mother of prisoners to gain entrance to see them. As a result, prisoners' authority saw the positive and transformative influence that she was having on prisoners, so they encouraged her visits. She was also the first woman to get unrestricted entrance to all the prisons in NSW. Clearly, during her lifetime she visited thousands of prisons across the country. Even though being herself, penniless Smith’s welfare activities not only constricted in prison, she also helped orphans, runaways and unmarried mothers with housing, food, and employment. She turned her house into a sanctioned home and helped displaced children find their home. She also helped to establish the aboriginal medical service in Redfern, the first community-controlled medical center for aboriginal all over Australia. which is still running to provide medical and dental service, the same service also acts as a detoxification center for people with alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse, etc. She also became a part of the Australian civil rights movement fighting for racial justice both local and nationwide. Also, she helped to establish aboriginal legal services. For devoting her life to aboriginal and indigenous communities she was also awarded as Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)in 1977 and Order of Australia ( AM) in 1985.

3. Describe the obstacles and challenges faced by the individual as their activism or campaign escalated. Thank you Nishma, I am now going to discuss the obstacles or challenges faced by Coleen Perry Shirley Smith during activism. Mum shirl had a condition called epilepsy that caused her problem during her lifetime and during activism. One day she even had a car accident due to her bad episode of fits which became an obstacle to work. At the beginning of her political journey she had trouble finding the difference between labor parties and the liberal party which is important to a person who indicates as leader of a community fighting for the rights of aboriginal people. Being such a big figure and with all the responsibility she had from looking after the homeless and fighting for the rights of aboriginal people and involved in the organizations that helped on the welfare of the people, it was quite challenging for her to feed the children and get them to school. She also had to take certain steps like crashing the gate due to the discrimination, even after the welfare works she has done, during the first national conference of catholic social workers no aboriginal were invited which states that she had to face the discrimination. In addition, Mum Shirl had to give her analysis of various social problems she has experienced in urban Aboriginal communities, including interpersonal

HLSC 120Indigenous Health and Culture violence, self-harm, unemployment, and crime and drug abuse. She places that the main reason for this was poverty and discrimination, which has been the cause of crime and she had to stand against that in order to decrease the crime rate and poverty, which she helped by providing employment and home to the homeless people. She also had trouble having funding from the government for the welfare of aboriginal people and she had to use her pension money for all the welfare work which she was involved in. 4. Consider how the person has had an impact on areas of health, culture, communication, cultural safety, spirituality and/or self-determination. Shirley Smith worked tirelessly advocating for a variety of groups within society. Her contribution within healthcare, particularly through funding organizations such as the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, saw an increase in access to services such as doctors, hospitals and allied health services for Aboriginal People, and lowered the burden of sick individuals. Over years of hard work, the Aboriginal Medical Service agreed to pay Shirley Smith $50 per week, which paid higher than the pension she was previously on. This employment saw Shirley being able to afford to rent a number of houses for not only her own immediate family but also a group of unmarried mothers. Providing a culturally safe home for these mothers, not only helped financially with providing shelter but saw the opportunity for the children to attend school and pursue an education in the outcome of growing to become activists just like herself. Other organizations Shirley impacted, included the Aboriginal Legal Service, where she advocated for individuals’ rights and The Child Welfare Department, which included decreasing the cases of homeless and uneducated children. Shirley also volunteered at a local prison where she made frequent visits providing social support for inmates. She organized prisoners to have adequate access to activities such as musical instruments. Her involvement in many various campaigns and organizations impacted positively on the Aboriginal community as a whole.

Questions for Discussion Forum 1. How have Shirley Smith’s actions impacted the wider Indigenous community? 2. What are some of the social works Shirley Smith was involved in? 3. How does an individual's connection to country impact their actions within an Indigenous community

References Shirley Smith | National Museum of Australia. (2020). Retrieved 29 March 2020, from

HLSC 120Indigenous Health and Culture https://www.nma.gov.au/indigenous/people/pagination/shirley_smith Biography - Shirley Coleen (Mum Shirl) Smith - Indigenous Australia. (2020). Retrieved 29 March 2020, from http://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-shirley-coleen-mum-shirl-17817 MumShirl (1921-1998) - People and organizations. (2020). Retrieved 29 March 2020, from https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/783718?c=people Mum Shirl. (2020). Retrieved 29 March 2020, from https://myhero.com/Shirl_Melbourne Everyone’s Mum | Riverview Views. (2020). Retrieved 29 March 2020, from https://views.riverview.nsw.edu.au/everyones-mum/ Alex et al. (2020). Mum Shirl Black Saint of Redfern - exhibition for NAIDOC 2019 - Elaine Pelot Syron. Retrieved 29 March 2020, from https://gordonsyron.com/photo/mum-shirl-black-saint-of-redfernexhibition-for-naidoc-2019/ Country, D. (2020). DNA confirms Aboriginal people's long-lasting connection to country. Retrieved 13 April 2020, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-03-09/dna-confirms-aboriginalshave-long-lasting-connection-to-country/8336284 LibGuides: Interesting Australian Catholics: Mum Shirl. (2020). Retrieved 13 April 2020, from https://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/Year10/Religion/Vocations/mumshirl...