Career
She is the only Australian to have been granted Cambodian citizenship by a royal decree from King Norodom Sihanouk. Born in Adelaide, Geraldine Cox had two older sisters and described herself the "problem child" of the family. She left school at 14 for a job in an office, before moving to Coober Pedy to work as a miner.
Cox joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969 and was posted to Phnom Penh in 1970.
The country was in turmoil at the time, with the Vietnam war at the border and American B52s dropping bombs. Her fiancé had just broken off their engagement, after learning that Cox was infertile due to blocked fallopian tubes.
Foreign the eight years to 1993, Cox worked for the Chase Manhattan Bank, in Washington and Sydney. While in Australia in 1993, Cox helped found the Australia Cambodia Foundation, which operates the Sunrise Children"s Village.
She moved to Cambodia permanently in 1996, to live with the orphaned children.
In the orphanage she is known as "Madai Tom" (meaning Big Mum). Cox is the author of the book Home is Where the Heart Is, an account of her life and the lives of some of the children she has cared foreign Fifteen thousand copies have been printed and sold, and they are no longer available in book shops.
Cox is also the subject of the documentary My Khmer Heart, made by Australian filmmakers Janine Hosking and Leonie Lowe.
