WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains the name and image of a person who has passed.
Victoria's Premier Jacinta Allan is among those paying tribute to Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung elder Aunty Fay Carter who has died, aged 89.
Aunty Fay devoted her life to advocating for the Indigenous community, serving with the Aborigines Advancement League, NAIDOC and the Aboriginal Child Care Agency.
In 1992, she established the Aboriginal Community Elders Service.
Ms Allan honoured Aunty Fay in a statement, describing her as "overwhelmingly generous" with her time, wisdom and in her work.
"There are so many words to describe the amazing Aunty Fay Carter," Ms Allan said.
"Tireless. Grounded. Passionate. Determined."
Ms Allan said Aunty Fay was resolute in her mission to ensure the true history of Victoria and its impact on the present was not forgotten.
"Despite the marginalisation – economic, social and geographic – of her People, she spoke warmly of her childhood. Of the Elders that helped to raise her – and their determination to see their cultures, histories and connection to Country live on.
"Aunty Fay carried that same burning determination throughout her life."
Aunty Fay's son, Djaara Clans Aboriginal Corporation CEO Rodney Carter, told ABC Central Victoria his mother impressed on him the importance of continuing his language and culture, and went the extra yard to help others.
"If she can leave us with forms of legacy, I think it's to be resistant [to discrimination] and lovingly tolerant of people, and look to our positives and always call out the negative, toxic behaviour of others that we don't want," Mr Carter said.
He said she was a role model to everyone in their family.
"For me, it was an everlasting friendship and she'll be missed," he said.
"I'm very appreciative to have known her."
From a life 'on the margins' to an OAM
Aunty Fay was born in 1935 on Yorta Yorta country.
She revealed to the Yoorrook Justice Commission how her mother had medical problems but had to give birth on the verandah of Echuca Hospital because Aboriginal women were not permitted in the maternity ward at the time.
She lived at the cumme*ragunja Mission in New South Wales until the age of four, when her family took part in a historic walk-off in protest against its mismanagement, settling on the flats along the Goulburn River outside Mooroopna with other families who also left.
"They built their homes there out of bags, kerosene tins, went to the tip over the highway to scrounge for furniture and all sorts of things to make the homes," Aunty Fay said in a 2021 video for NAIDOC Week for the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency
"And they were homes — they were comfortable, warm, loving homes.
"I always feel as though I was privileged to be raised by all the old people that lived there on the flats, not just your immediate family, but everybody loved and cared and nurtured you.
She married Leslie Carter at the age of 18 and had two children, Wendy and Rodney.
In 1972, she moved with her family to Melbourne where she began advocating for Aboriginal people's needs.
A year later, Aunty Fay started work as a field officer for the Aborigines Advancement League (AAL) and later for the Victorian Department of Social Security as an Aboriginal liaison officer, before returning to AAL in 1987 as the Community Development and Welfare Program coordinator.
From 1974 to 1990, she was a member of the Victorian Branch of the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC), including three years as treasurer and five years as president.
She was instrumental in establishing the Aboriginal Community Elders Services (ACES) in East Brunswick in 1992 alongside Aunty Iris Lovett-Gardiner and other elders, which was the first Aboriginal-managed community corporation in Australia to provide culturally relevant aged care services and is now regarded as a national model for aged care services to Aboriginal elders.
She was a founding member of Australia's first Aboriginal women's refuge and spent 11 years on the board of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), 10 of those as chair.
In a statement, VACCA described Aunty Fay as "one of our most influential and loved matriarchs".
"She fought for the recognition of the invaluable role Elders play in keeping children safe," it wrote.
"While she is survived by her family and grandchildren, she is remembered and loved by so many more and her legacy is one of deep respect and the knowledge that many Aboriginal people have lived healthier and happier lives because of her."
Recognition for decades of service
Jacinta Allan said Aunty Fay helped implement the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle which aimed to ensure Aboriginal children remained connected to their family, culture and community.
"Even in her so-called 'retirement', Aunty Fay never wavered", Ms Allan said, paying tribute to her participation in 18 months of negotiations with the Victorian government to achieve a landmark native title settlement in 2013, which formally recognised the Dja Dja Wurrung people as the traditional owners of lands in central Victoria.
The settlement included handing back more than 266,000 hectares of Crown land to the traditional owners.
She received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019 for her commitment to developing and implementing culturally relevant programs and services for Aboriginal people.
The City of Greater Bendigo has extended its sympathies to the Dja Dja Wurrung Traditional Owners and all First Nations people.
A joint statement by Mayor Andrea Metcalf and chief executive officer Andrew Cooney, described Aunty Fay as "an incredible advocate for her community" whose work enhanced the programs and services that supported Aboriginal people through key stages of life.
"Her expertise and lived experience meant she was a much sought-after advisor for state and federal governments, and Victorian community organisations on a range of matters, with the city also benefiting from her guidance," they said.
"Aunty Fay aided the development of the city's dedicated First Nations gallery, Djaa Djuwima, offering advice on the types of art and cultural activities that could be held there.
"Aunty Fay's extraordinary passion and determination to look after her people and culture are seen in the next generations of her family; her spirit and outstanding contribution lives on in them."
She was a fierce advocate for Aboriginal people to reconnect with Country, speaking of spending time at Bendigo Creek with her son.
"Going out on to Country and walking Country is the most wonderful spiritual experience," Aunty Fay said.
"To actually walk on the country, to walk in the footsteps of your ancestors, you get the feeling of being there with them, of understanding them, of feeling them.
"To walk Country is very, very spiritual, very important. You can talk about Country, which is also important, but to walk it and talk it, it's an amazing experience."
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