National NAIDOC - Award Winner

Elizabeth Morgan Hoffman (Victoria) - Lifetime Achievement Award

Elizabeth has won this award due to her lifelong empowerment of her people, the Yorta Yorta nation, by being an inspiration to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to turn their vision into a reality, despite the racism and disadvantage she experienced. She has shown the way to foster strength and avoid excuses by achieving what before was thought could not be done.

Aunty Elizabeth’s achievements have been many and varied – starting out with a year’s apprenticeship for FCATSIA in 1972. Moving forward, she was a member of the National Council of Aboriginal Women from 1972-76, a Board Member and actor in the Nindathanan Theatre from 1973-75, a Chairperson and Director of the Aboriginal Advancement League from 1973- 1983 and spent a long and productive time on the Aboriginal Development Commission from the late 1970’s until 1985.

And more was to come – Aunty Elizabeth continued to inspire and support self determination, and her passion is the safety, protection, and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children:

• she was the inaugural Chairperson of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency in 1978, and
• she was the inaugural Chairperson in 1982 of the Elizabeth Hoffmann House – the first Aboriginal Women’s refuge in Australia.

Aunty Elizabeth has also been instrumental in the land rights struggle and in the protection and maintenance of her culture and environment:

• she was the Founding member of the Yorta Yorta Local Aboriginal Land Council, and
• she was the first elected rep to the NSW State Land Council for the Murray River Region from 1984-86, and
• she was the inaugural chairperson for the Yorta Yorta Murray Goulburn Rivers Clans group from 1993-98.

Aunty Elizabeth, then, has deservedly gained our respect for the hard work she has put into exposing the plight of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people especially at a time when their issues were not being heard. We must never forget the difficulties and hurdles that Aunty Liz went through and her leadership as a strong black woman. If it weren’t for leaders like Aunty Liz who constantly challenge governments and communicate openly about domestic violence, child protection, land rights, and cultural and environmental heritage, we would not exist today.