Passionate advocate for Aboriginal rights
Sometimes
some of the humblest of characters assume greatness in their own
lifetime and by any measure May Lorna O’Brien was one of those people.
This
lady was known simply as Aunty May but her life and her achievements
will long be indelibly marked in the history of Western Australia.
She
was a remarkable Aboriginal woman and her fierce determination
(sometimes misconstrued as just being obstinate and stubborn) was the
hallmark of her determination to succeed.
Her
life began in the tiny all-but-forgotten settlement of Patricia in
1933, when she was given the name, “Loona”, which may well have been her
Aboriginal name. When as a very young child she went to live with a
family that she thought may adopt her, she was given the name May.
These
multiple names were used to good effect and on one occasion the
much-feared chief protector of Aborigines, Mr A.O. Neville, came to Mt
Margaret Mission looking for a young light-skinned Aboriginal girl
called Lorna. This was a time when light-skinned Aboriginal girls were
removed from their parents.
Aunty May fitted the description of this
young girl perfectly and the suspicious Mr Neville asked her several
times for her name and, not wanting to tell a lie to such an important
man, she said “My name is May”.
Mr R.
Schenk, the missionary in charge of Mt Margaret, confirmed to Neville
that her name was indeed May and even at that very young age, it was
obvious that this girl had the “smarts”. There was no way that Neville
and his co-protectors of Aborigines were going to get her into their
custody on that particular day and soon thereafter, they left
empty-handed.
Aunty May remained at the
mission from 1938 until 1950, when she was given the opportunity to go
to Perth with three other girls to further her education. While she was
excited about going to a big school in a big city, she was not too
excited about having to wear a uniform with its box pleats and belt in
the middle.
At 17 years old, she was just a
little bit “sassy” and the school principal said because she was the
oldest kid enrolled at a WA high school, and because her IQ test results
were quite poor, she was being sent back to the mission to become a
domestic.
That was like waving a red rag at a bull and the impetuous May
Lorna
Miller borrowed some money, went to an off-limits telephone box and
promptly rang Dr Robertson, the director-general of education. Her
timely call had the desired effect and Aunty May remained at Perth Girls
School for the next two years before starting teacher training at
Claremont Teachers College.
Aunty May was a
passionate fighter for the rights of her people and from a very young
age, she fought to become a “citizen” of this country.
It made her angry that under the laws of the country at the time, that she and other Aboriginal people were denied this right.
As
an educator, her passion for equality and acceptance for her people in
schools across WA and the country knew no bounds. She argued the case
for IQ tests to be changed because she believed that these tests were
culturally biased and she was right. She was a fearsome player in the
battle for equity within education and there were many bureaucrats and
politicians who regretted the day they took on Aunty May in any debate
relating to the rights of Aboriginal people.
She
rose to become the boss of Aboriginal education in WA and a leading
advocate on powerful committees and “think tanks” that debated and
formulated strategies to give Aboriginal people equity and opportunity
in education precincts right across the country.
For
her unwavering commitment and passion for her people and her work, she
was recognised and applauded on many occasions. She received a British
Empire Medal for her work in education in 1977, was awarded a Churchill
Fellowship in 1983, in 1991 she was made a fellow of Edith Cowan
University and in 1998 Aunty May was inducted into the Department of
Education’s Hall of Fame.
A legend was born and none of this escaped the
love of her life, Jack O’Brien, who she had married in 1972 and whom
she fondly regarded as “her Charles Bronson”.
Her
Christian faith kept her strong throughout her remarkable life and
Aunty May and Jack were reunited in heaven on March 1, 2020 — a place
where she is no doubt rearranging the furniture as we speak.
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