Joyce Clague facts for kids
Joyce Caroline Clague was an important Australian political activist and a respected elder of the Yaegl people. She was born on July 22, 1938, and passed away in September 2024. Joyce worked tirelessly for social change and better rights for Indigenous Australians. She played a big part in making the 1967 Constitutional Referendum happen. She was also key to the "Yaegl #1" native title claim, which was a major legal case that finished in 2015.
Early Life
Joyce Caroline Mercy was born in Maclean, New South Wales, on July 22, 1938. She was one of 15 children. Even though Aboriginal children at mission schools were often told not to speak their own languages, Joyce learned the Yaegl language. She did this to talk with her grandparents and stay connected to her culture. As a teenager, she moved to Sydney to study nursing.
Working for Change
Joyce Clague became friends with important members of the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship. She also joined the Aborigines Progressive Association. In 1960, she went to a big conference for Aboriginal advancement in Sydney. There, she found encouragement from an activist named Jack Horner.
She was very important in getting the 1967 Constitutional Referendum started. A referendum is when people vote on a big change to the country's laws. This referendum was about including Aboriginal people in the census and allowing the federal government to make laws for them. After the referendum passed, Joyce worked with musician Jimmy Little. They encouraged Indigenous Australians to sign up to vote. She also appeared in a film about the referendum called Vote Yes for Aborigines.
In 1968, Joyce ran for a position in the government of the Northern Territory. Her campaign encouraged 6,500 Aboriginal people to register to vote. She also led the Federation Council for Advancement of Aborigines (FCAATSI) in 1969. She was chosen to represent the World Churches Commission to Combat Racism. Later, she became the Northern Territory state secretary for FCAATSI in 1972. She also worked as an assistant investigation officer for the New South Wales Ombudsman. Joyce was a founding member of the New South Wales Women's Advisory Council to the Premier and served two terms.
In 1977, she received an award called the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Her father told her to accept the award for all Aboriginal people. Joyce humorously called the MBE "More Black than Ever."
In the 1980s, she tried to become a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the New South Wales Parliament. She was also part of the Australian Republic Movement. From 1987, she was the treasurer and a member of the Metropolitan Land Council.
Joyce also had the idea for the Nungera Museum in Maclean. This museum was meant to celebrate Aboriginal culture.
In 1986, Joyce Clague became the first Aboriginal person to be a trustee at the Australian Museum.
Native Title Claim
In November 1996, Joyce and Della Walker started a native title claim called Yaegl #1. This claim covered a large area of the Clarence River and its smaller rivers. It was made on behalf of the Yaegl people. Native title means that Indigenous people have special rights to their traditional lands and waters. This claim was successfully settled in 2015. It was one of the longest legal cases in the Federal Court of Australia.
Personal Life
Joyce met her husband, Colin, at a Christian youth conference in the Philippines in 1964. They got married about two years later. Colin was Anglo-Australian, and his family came from the Isle of Mann. They had four daughters. In 2007, a documentary called When Colin Met Joyce was made about their relationship. One of their daughters, Pauline Clague, wrote and produced it.
Joyce Clague passed away in September 2024 when she was 85 years old.
Works
- Clague, Joyce, 'Staying to the end', in Scutt, Jocelynne A. (ed.), Glorious age : growing older gloriously, Artemis, Melbourne, 1993.
