Honour inductee

New hot off the presses, or straight from the website of the Department of the Premier & Cabinet.
Local Wotjobaluk Elder Aunty Nancy Harrison has been inducted to the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll. Aunty Nancy joins other Wimmera inductees - Lester Marks, Johnny Mullagh and Kevin Coombs.Her great-great-grandfather was King Richard who helped track the lost Duff children.

Aunty Nancy at the launch of the Honour Roll at Horsham, 2015

Aunty Nancy was born in Horsham in 1941 and grew up with her 7 brothers and sisters on the Reserve at Antwerp . The children attended the Antwerp State School, till the family moved to Burrumbeet near Ballarat, when Nancy then attended the Ballarat West High School. She worked in the Ballarat offices of the Royal Insurance Company, then the SEC (State Electricity Commission) in accounting & secretarial roles. In the 1950s joined the Department of Defence with the RAAF then the Army tilll she retired.

In 2003 Nancy returned to her traditional home at Dimboola and became involved in the Native Title negotiations for parts of the Little Desert & Wyperfeld lands, culminating with its recognition in 2005.
In the community Nancy has volunteered her time and talents to school children talking on cultural language, history and heritage. She has been involved in archaeological digs at Ebenezer. Nancy was an Ambassador for the Library during the International Year of Reading in 2012. She also worked on the Possum Skin Cloak Project (the cloak represented stories of the traditional owners, past & present).
 So congratulations Aunty Nancy Harrrison - Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll inductee for 2015. 

<< Aunty Nancy in the possum cloak delivering the Welcome to Country speech at the Library's 'Footprints' display in Dimboola