Margaret Wirrpanda

Background

Margaret Briggs was born at Cummeragunja, New South Wales, daughter of activists Geraldine Clements Briggs and Selwyn Briggs.

Career

She had no formal high school education and instead gained much of her knowledge from seeking out the insight of government and private figures. Their extended family of activists included Sir Douglas Nicholls and Jack Patten. Margaret was one of nine siblings raised in Shepparton.

In 1973 she helped to found the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service.

Margaret Wirrpanda was the first woman to be president of the Aborigines Advancement League. In the 1980s, she served a term as president of the National Women"s Consultative Council.

Mistress Wirrpanda spent her later years as a plaintiff representing the Yorta Yorta Tribal Council, in court cases related to title claims.

And as convener of the Victorian Aboriginal Women"s Congress. In 1984, Wirrpanda played an important role in assisting the Yorta Yorta Tribal Council attempt to claim ownership over the Barmah Forest.

She continued to support the tribe in legal proceedings with the Federal Court between 1996-2002. Wirrpanda was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2003.

Margaret also acted as part of a committee devoted to water issues after the Victorian Government signed a land management agreement with the Yorta Yorta tribe in 2004.

She is quoted as saying, "We concentrate too much on what happens overseas and not enough on what"s going on here. When the water level gets low enough, we"re all going to find out what it means to survive."

Wirrpanda died in early 2013, in Melbourne, from complications related to diabetes. In 2014 she was posthumously named to the Victoria Indigenous Honour Roll.

Achievements

• They were part of the movement that won approval of the 1967 Referendum. Margaret became an officer of the National Council of Aboriginal and Islander Women when it formed in 1972, and was a founder of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service that same year.