City of Adelaide honours Aunty Yvonne Agius with Lord Mayor’s NAIDOC Award

The City of Adelaide has awarded Kaurna-Narrunga descendant and respected Elder, Aunty Yvonne Agius the Lord Mayor’s NAIDOC Award for 2021 at an annual luncheon event, noting her decades long fight for Aboriginal people’s human rights, including access to education, housing, health care, legal rights and childcare.

Aunty Yvonne is a City of Adelaide Reconciliation Committee member and has served as dual chairperson since 2010, a worthy recipient of the Award, which recognises the outstanding achievement and service of an extraordinary Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community member who has made a significant contribution to Reconciliation in the City of Adelaide.

“Aunty Yvonne has been committed to sharing the courageous stories of the many women who fought long and hard for Aboriginal rights,” said Lord Mayor and City of Adelaide Reconciliation Committee dual chairperson Sandy Verschoor.

Having worked as a public servant over 40 years, Aunty Yvonne has had a long and varied working life, heading up the women’s unit at ATSIC and working with Aboriginal rights activist Charles Perkins AO in medical and legal services. She also spent time at Parliament, looking after visiting dignitaries from overseas.

Aunty Yvonne has also been fundamental in the development of several very successful major reconciliation projects at the Council including:

Dual Kaurna naming of the city’s Park Lands and squares
The development of the Reconciliation Plaza
Extensive consultations regarding a variety of Aboriginal matters concerning Council
Expert advice and support in the build of City of Adelaide’s Reconciliation Action Plans
The building of the first Mankurri-api Kuu/Reconciliation Room in a local government setting.

She also has extensive experience on a range of community groups and boards that deal with Heritage, Native Title and Nunga Court, displaying an ongoing commitment to reconciliation and advocacy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

The former City of Port Adelaide Enfield employee has generously dedicated much of her time over the years to being an Aboriginal foster carer and educating younger generations about the past, and in the year 2000, Aunty Yvonne was named National NAIDOC Aboriginal Elder of the Year, in recognition of her commitment to the preservation of Aboriginal heritage.

For more information about the work of Aunty Yvonne Agius in the Adelaide community, please see here.