Indigenous Australia

Cecilia Smith (1911-1980), matriarch and Aboriginal activist, was born on 24 March 1911 at Beaudesert, Queensland, second of five children of Aboriginal parents William Hatton, labourer, and his second wife Dolly, née Tate. William, known as 'Pompey', was employed as a stockman and noted for his veterinary skills. Dolly came from Tambo. She had been removed from her family as a child and had worked in Brisbane before her marriage. Educated at Beaudesert and confirmed in the Church of England, Celia found employment as a domestic servant. On 8 August 1932 at Christ Church, Boonah, she married with Anglican rites Ernest Smith, a farm hand. The young couple lived at Dalby and then at Toowoomba. They had separated by 1943 when Celia moved with their four children to Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Compassionate and generous, Mrs Smith kept open house where anyone could obtain a hot meal, play a game of cards and receive a few shillings or some second-hand clothing. People needing accommodation stayed for a few days and occasionally longer. Smith visited prisoners in gaol, sometimes sought their release, and welcomed them back into the community. After her only daughter Betty died in the 1950s, she took custody of two of her three children and also cared for several other grandchildren over extended periods. From about 1960 she lived at Carina where she continued to provide hospitality: she grew vegetables and fruit, and cooked meals outdoors on a wood stove for large groups of people.

Joining the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders soon after its formation in 1958, Smith served as honorary secretary (1972-75) and sat on the social committee, helping to run dances to raise money for various causes. She wrote a column (from 1970) in the council's monthly newsletter in which she discussed issues of land rights, wages, conditions on reserves and housing for Aborigines. A member of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, she attended conferences in Canberra in the 1960s and at Alice Springs, Northern Territory, in 1972. As an executive-member of F.C.A.A.T.S.I.'s women's council, she was a delegate at the fourth national conference of Aboriginal and Islander women, held in Melbourne in 1974.

Smith had campaigned vigorously for a 'Yes' vote in the successful 1967 referendum to empower the Commonwealth government to legislate on Aboriginal affairs. She was often 'on duty' at the 'tent embassy' set up in 1974 at King George Square, Brisbane, to publicize the need for more Aboriginal housing in the city and to protest against the State's repressive Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders' Affairs Act (1965). In the 1970s she belonged to the Queensland branch of the Union of Australian Women, and kept the organization informed of matters affecting Aborigines. Following abdominal surgery, she died of renal failure on 23 December 1980 in Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, and was cremated. Her three sons survived her.