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Submitted with permission by: Shirley Firebrace and Merri Creek Primary School. Compiled by: Alexandra, Alice, Cassie, Mathilda and Romanie, Merri Creek Primary School, Victoria, Australia.

Shirley’s Chilhood

Shirley Firebrace was born in a town called Echuca in Victoria, along the Murray River. She is a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe which covers the land of the Murray-Goulburn region. As a child, Shirley lived in her grandmother Bertha’s house, in Moama. There were seven children in her family, four girls and three boys. She was the fourth child. She loved going to Moama Primary School and played sport with great enjoyment. She loved the Murray River and used to watch the black swans there. She often went fishing for Murray crays with her brothers. They would hunt and catch witchetty grubs. They ate fish and a lot of bush foods. Shirley remembers being very active and healthy as a child.

When Shirley was five years of age, she and her three sisters were taken away from her family by a government welfare worker. She was taken from her mother, her father, her brothers, her aunties and uncles and the place she loved. It was horrible and traumatic for her because she only got to say goodbye to her father and her brothers but not to her mother and other family members. Shirley was told she was being taken on a "little holiday" but she knew she would not see home for a long time. She was taken to a place called Sutherland Home, for children, in Diamond Creek, Victoria. Her first impressions of the home were very frightening; it was such a big, big place. When she got to the home, her hair was cut very short. It was a very powerful and distinctive experience. Shirley remembers saying, "I want to go home."

It wasn’t until the age of thirteen that Shirley and her sister Sharon saw their mother for the first time in eight years. Their mother did not recognise them at first. Shirley had visits from her father and brothers while she was in the home.

When she left Sutherland Home, Shirley was sixteen and hadn’t seen her family home for eleven years.

Shirley’s Secondary Schooling and Sporting History

Throughout her school aged life, Shirley loved both her studies and sport. During the time that Shirley was at Sutherland Home, she attended Meglins Primary School. The Education Department made a tape about gymnastics at the school. Shirley demonstrated skills on this tape. She had talent in this area and one of the staff at the Home was going to apply for Shirley to go to the Institute of Gymnastics. Shirley also had hopes of going to the Olympic Games to compete in gymnastics. She did neither, because the Home could not afford to send her to the Institute. Shirley did not pursue gymnastics. Shirley also did classical ballet for 8 years. Her feet used to bleed but nonetheless she loved it!

Shirley went to Watsonia High School and in Form Three was awarded a scholarship for academic achievement. She loved the challenge of school. She loved English, History, the Arts and P.E. but "wasn’t mad on Maths!"

Shirley and her older sister, Sharon, shared a love for sport and were sports team captains in their secondary years. Every morning they would get up at 6:00am to go running and training for netball and volleyball. This shows how dedicated they were to their sports, as they worked their training around chores and studies. Her P.E. teacher, Mr Daheny, was a referee at the Olympic Games and encouraged and trained Shirley and Sharon in their volleyball pursuits. At the age of 16, Sharon made the Victorian Under 18 Netball team, and in the same year won Best and Fairest in the Australian Championships. Both sisters represented Victoria in the Under 18’s and Open Women’s in volleyball and Sharon went on to the Australian team in volleyball. Shirley was only about 14 when she made the State Volleyball team. They won the Australian Volleyball Championships 2 years in a row. They were the only Aboriginal players of the 1960’s in volleyball.

Shirley and her sister were also runners and trained at Royal Park. They were in the Diamond Creek Athletic Club. When they were there, they used to watch Raelene Boyle run and Shirley remembers admiring her very much.

Shirley doesn’t have the time to pursue her own sport now and misses this but she spends a lot of time involved in her children’s’ sport. She is currently the President of the Northern Thunder Rugby League Club and coaches her son’s basketball team. She believes sport is very beneficial and teaches you other life skills, for example leadership and team work.

Shirley’s Family Background

Shirley has been researching her family background ever since she got out of Sutherland Home and has managed to trace many of the family members. Shirley’s family are the only Firebrace’s in Australia and the main street in Horsham is named after her relatives. The extended family is a very important part of the Aboriginal culture. Shirley places great importance on family, particularly considering the experiences in her childhood of having been taken away. Her father fought in the Second World War in the 106th Anti-Tank Battalion and her grandfather fought in the First World War.

Being Aboriginal

Shirley remembers the days of the White Australia policy and its influence on society. She was eleven or twelve at that time and remembers that there weren’t many people from other countries in Australia.

When Shirley did Australian History in High School, the teachers taught the children that Aboriginal people were savages. Shirley used to sit in the classroom thinking, "Hang on... there’s something wrong here. There are tribes that cover every inch of this land. Those tribes lived off the land and tried as hard as they could to preserve it. They were the caretakers of the land." She knew that what she was being taught was not right and was incomplete. Even though Shirley was away from the Aboriginal lifestyle when she was growing up, her identity as being an Aborigine was very strong and she was very proud.

Shirley says that it is difficult being aboriginal in our society. She explains, "Imagine feeling an alien in your own country, feeling that you’ll never be accepted because of your colour and because of just being Aboriginal." She continues to be very proud of her people and her culture. She loves talking about her Aboriginal culture and is always learning about it. She feels that Aboriginal people are the most powerless people in the sense that they are under-represented in business and politics, under-serviced in health and education and under-recognised in their contributions within Australia. Shirley feels that her people have been the greatest contributors to this country, however no-one has ever given them credit for their hard work.

Shirly’s Job

Australian Stories