Essie Coffey , born Essieina Shillingsworth, (1941–1998) was born near

Goodooga Goodooga is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales in Brewarrina Shire on the eastern bank of the Bokhara River. It is near Brewarrina and Lightning Ridge, its closest neighbour. The town lies south of the Queensland border, and th ...

in northern New South Wales, Australia. She was a Muruwari woman and the co-founder of the Western Aboriginal Legal Service and served on a number of government bodies and Aboriginal community organisations. Her family avoided forced relocation to an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

by following seasonal rural work. Coffey co-founded the Western Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal Heritage and Cultural Museum in

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

, serving on several government bodies and Aboriginal community organisations including the

Aboriginal Lands Trust In Australia, an Aboriginal land trust (ALT) is a type of non-profit organisation that holds the freehold title to an area of land on behalf of a community of Aboriginal Australians. The land has been legally granted to a community by the governme ...

and the Aboriginal Advisory Council. She was an inaugural member of the

Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Reconciliation in Australia is a process which officially began in 1991, focused on the improvement of race relations between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia and the rest of the population. The Council for Aboriginal ...

. She was awarded a Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) on 10 June 1985, for service to the Aboriginal community. She was nominated for an MBE but refused it, explaining "I knocked the MBE back because I'm not a member of the British Empire". Coffey was also an active filmmaker. In 1978 she made ''

My Survival as an Aboriginal ''My Survival as an Aboriginal'' is a 1979 Australian documentary film directed by Essie Coffey and produced by Coffey, Alec Morgan and Martha Ansara. It was the first documentary directed by an Aboriginal woman. References External links''My ...

'', which she gave to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

as a gift at the opening of Australia's new Parliament House in 1988. The film won the Greater Union Award for documentary film and the

Rouben Mamoulian Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( ; hy, Ռուբէն Մամուլեան; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theatre director. Early life Mamoulian was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire, to a family of Armenian descent. H ...

Award at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

1979. The sequel, ''My Life As I Live It'', was released in 1993. Coffey also appeared in the film '' Backroads''. Essie Coffey and her husband, Albert "Doc" Coffey, raised 8 children and adopted 10 more.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Essie 1941 births 1998 deaths Australian indigenous rights activists Women human rights activists Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia People from New South Wales Australian women activists