October 27, 2010

STANLEY FRASER DAVEY, AM
ACTIVIST

20-7-1922 – 22-9-2010

By JO WAINER and JAN RICHARDSON

STAN Davey, who campaigned and worked for Aboriginal communities across Australia for more than 50 years, has died of pneumonia at a nursing home in Frankston. He was 88.

Stan co-founded five organisations and introduced community development practices to remote areas of Western Australia and Northern Territory as a means for Aboriginal people to create self-reliant social and economic structures.

He also challenged general ignorance about conditions for Aboriginal people in the 1950s and ’60s by constantly travelling to their trouble spots, listening to their stories and circulating reports to relevant people and authorities.

In this way he developed a wide network across Australia and in the early 1960s probably knew more Aboriginal people than any other non-indigenous person.

Stan’s determination, moral strength and political intelligence drove nationwide political campaigns. He suffered ostracism and poverty for his principles, but regretted only that he could not do more.

As a youngster growing up in the Perth suburb of Cottesloe, Stan trained his mind so that he could produce in his life the high ethical and moral precepts that he considered fundamental to the Christian injunction to love humanity. Initially believing his calling to be within the institutional church and after serving during the war, he was ordained in the Churches of Christ. From 1952 to 1957, Stan was minister at the church in Ivanhoe with his then wife Joan, and their two children Carolyn and Elinor.

It was through this church that he met Pastor Doug Nicholls, the well-known Victorian Aboriginal leader, and became involved in Aboriginal affairs. He realised then that his real calling was not in the institutional church but in its outworking in the field.

Stan resigned from the church ministry to fully commit to working for justice for Aboriginal Australians at a time when discrimination against them was built into state laws. He and Nicholls developed a firm friendship based on a common dedication, and were at the centre of a group of Aboriginal and white activists who founded the Victorian Aborigines’ Advancement League.

According to Gordon Bryant, a former minister in the Hawke government and an executive member of the league, Stan was the ”driving force” behind its early work. His willingness to cooperate with people of all political and religious views, provided that they focused on what he termed ”the cause”, made him an exceptionally influential activist.

He was also instrumental in forming the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, which headed the successful 1967 campaign for a referendum to change the Constitution. He worked for both organisations for 10 years, sometimes paid, sometimes voluntarily, and travelled widely to see the conditions of Aboriginal people first-hand.

When there was no money for public transport, he hitched lifts, never allowing anything to deter him from reaching his goal. Early on, Stan recognised Aboriginal people’s connection to their land and their right to be acknowledged as the first peoples of this country.

He resigned as the director of the Aborigines Advancement League and moved to the Pilbara and Kimberley to work more directly with the people in remote areas. Joined by his second wife, Jan Richardson, they lived and worked in several communities; they raised their sons, Matthew and Paul, in these communities.

Stan’s unwavering faith in the capacity and wisdom of Aboriginal people was empowering, opening new opportunities previously denied to them. His work enabled significant changes in the fortunes of many Kimberley people and cost him dearly. His relentless pursuit of social change to benefit Aboriginal people led to his reputation in the north-west as a troublemaker and a stirrer. He was denied accommodation and a waged job, often in the hope that he would go away.

His needs were modest and he willingly endured hardships, undertaking whatever work he could to sustain the family and his ”real” work. When aged nearly 50 he worked as a wharfie in temperatures of 50C down the hold of ships, and as a labourer. If poverty became too overwhelming, Jan’s family lent support.

Stan and Jan lived for years in sheds and condemned dwellings until Stan’s work was finally recognised by the West Australian Government. Their work in Wyndham saw the Aboriginal people return to their country, and in Fitzroy Crossing six Aboriginal communities initiated cooperative social and economic structures.

In 1980, Stan and his family moved to the Northern Territory and worked for the Gurindji and the Arnhem Land peoples. When Stan was 72, he and Jan returned to Wyndham to assist the Aboriginal people establish alcohol rehabilitation services.

In 1999 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his work for Aboriginal peoples.

He is survived by his wife Jan, children Carolyn, Elinor, Matthew and Paul, and grandchildren Natalie, Luca, and Jesse.

Dr Jo Wainer, AM, is the sister of Dr Jan Richardson, who is the wife of Stan Davey.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/obituaries/tireless-warrior-for-aborigines-20101026-172e0.html