AustLit

Born Colleen Shirley Perry Smith, on Erambie Mission, New South Wales, Shirley Smith AO OBE, or 'Mum Shirl' as she affectionately became known by thousands of people, held many community titles: social worker, activist, humanitarian, foster parent but above all 'Mum' being a true believer in the resilience of the human spirit.

In the mid-1930s, her family moved to Sydney, at which time one of her brothers was jailed. Upon her brother's release, Mum Shirl continued to visit other prisoners, helping them to regain health and focus and finding their families.

Elizabeth Hodgson is a Wiradjuri woman, born in Wellington, New South Wales. She spent her childhood in a home for fair-skinned Aboriginal children in a Sydney suburb.

After spending many years travelling, Elizabeth decided to make Wollongong, New South Wales, her home. She has been officially welcomed into Wadi Wadi country and has explored her Aboriginality and spirituality in depth since moving there.

From 2003-2008, Hodgson sat on the Literature and History panel of Arts NSW and the Indigenous Arts Reference Group and during that time she was chair of the South Coast Writers' Centre.

Professor Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales and is one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors of Aboriginal literature. She has a PhD in Communication and Media which resulted in a history of Indigenous publishing titled Dhuuluu-Yala : To Talk Straight. Other published works include the historical novel Who Am I? : The Diary of Mary Talence : Sydney, 1937, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, which she co-edited with Peter Minter.

A Wiradjuri woman from Central New South Wales Kerry performed and conducted writing workshops nationally and internationally. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the First Nations Australians Writers Network (FNAWN). In 2013 she co-edited a collection of works with the Us Mob Writing (UMW) group ‘By Close of Business, and was co-editor for the Ora Nui Journal, a collaborative collection between First Nations Australia writers and Maori writers.

Joy Williams was born Eileen Williams, daughter of Doretta (Dora) and grand-daughter of Eileen and Harry Williams of Erambie Mission, West Cowra at the Crown Street Women's Hospital, Sydney. As a young child Joy was removed from her Aboriginal family and put in Bomaderry Home. At the age of six she was sent to Lutanda Children's Home run by the Plymouth Brethren, first at Wentworth Falls and later to Pennant Hills, Sydney. Williams was sent to Lutanda, where she was the only Indigenous resident, rather than Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home because of her fair skin.

Since writing the drama The Cake Man, the first black Australian play to be published, televised (1977) and to tour overseas (1982), Robert Merritt has been involved in the production of educational films aimed at rediscovering Aboriginal culture and roots.

Kevin Gilbert (10 July 1933 - 1 April 1993) was born into the Wiradjuri nation on the Kalara riverbank (Lachlan River) in Condobolin, Central New South Wales. During his lifetime, Kevin was a tireless advocate for Aboriginal rights and responsibilities and has left a legacy for others Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal to follow in the struggle for recognition and acceptance of Aboriginal sovereignty and an understanding of the spirituality of the oldest living culture in the world.

The youngest of eight children, Kevin and his siblings became orphaned at a very young age, which exposed the family to the racism of constant police harassment in country towns.

Jon Bell is a film and television producer. He grew up in Casino. His mother was Bundjalung and his father Wiradjuri. Bell made the short film And Justice For One before being commissioned to make another for SBS called Two Big Boys. He has also worked as a family case worker for the New South Wales Department of Children's Services.

Among his significant works for television are The Gods of Wheat Street, Cleverman, and The Warriors.