This was published 13 years ago
Aboriginal activist never stopped fighting for her people's rights
Judy Chester, 1950 - 2010
Judy Chester was a widely respected grassroots activist in the land rights movement, founding the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council and working on many educational and cultural projects.
She was born Judy Smith in 1950 at Wellington, NSW. Her mother was Sally May, from a Wiradjuri family, and her father, Tommy Smith, was a white railway worker and trade unionist, who served overseas during World War II.
On his return, the family was hit with illness. Sally suffered a stroke, so they moved to Sydney in 1959 for better medical care and employment. Then Tommy was injured in an industrial accident and the family was forced into public housing, at Herne Bay and then Green Valley.
The Smiths, like many Aboriginal families, were scattered across these new suburbs by the assimilation policy. They were expected to cut themselves off from their community and heritage, but these ''pepper-potted'' families found one another, building a lasting network in Sydney's south-west.
Chester became a young mother and wife when Green Valley was no more than a straggle of housing commission settlements. There was little public transport or community services. For all the tensions around racism, she made friends among white working-class neighbours and together they fostered the schools and sporting associations.
Chester was determined that her children were not going to miss out on anything and she travelled with them to sporting events, carting blankets, oranges and portable cooler - all on public transport.
She was an active member of the St John's Aboriginal Women's group, which took up the call for land rights and became the core of the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council under the new Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1983. Chester was its first chairwoman and later representative on the Regional Metropolitan Land Council.
In 1985 she made the decision, after many years of difficult marriage, to say no to domestic violence. This meant a move from the security of the suburbs to an inner-city women's refuge with her teenage children.
She turned her energies to the organisations for land rights and for adult education, and began a relationship with Kevin Cook, the general secretary of Tranby Co-operative College.
Chester and Cook formed a great team, sharing not only affection and a sense of humour, but common interests in land rights and union politics. She joked about how she and Cook operated an ''elastic house'' - she could always stretch it to make sure there was one more plate at the table and one more bed on the floor for their many friends.
Chester took a job in the State Land Council in 1986. Besides her paid positions, she filled many roles in advocacy organisations, sitting on the board of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative and Wyanga Aged Care Services, working on the Building Bridges campaign to bring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal musicians together and organising the Sydney end of the "Long March" for the Bicentenary in 1988. It was for all this work that she was recognised with a National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee medal.
Chester wanted to build a better understanding among non-Aboriginal unionists about Aboriginal concerns. In the early 1990s, she started work as an organiser in the Commonwealth Public Sector Union. She built up union membership among the growing number of Aboriginal people in the public service and started the NSW Aboriginal Network to improve rights. She formed strong relationships with the younger union organisers, many now union leaders, who remember her commitment and friendship.
Above all, Chester's passion was for the women's movement. She wanted to see women freed from the domestic violence and poverty which had trapped her for so many years. She always spoke first at the annual Ernie Awards ceremonies, acknowledging Aboriginal people as the owners of the land and celebrating the unity of purpose shared by all women.
She always stepped up to be in the frontline of campaigns to protect the rights of women, like her last demonstration, marching to defend women in Mexico from violence. Chester was immensely proud that it was one of her grandchildren, Tjanara, who took the stage to speak in solidarity with the women of Ciudad Juarez.
She was awarded the Federation Medal in 2001 for her contribution to the Aboriginal community and her generous interactions with non-Aboriginal people and women's organisations. Chester died suddenly after a short battle with cancer. She is survived by Cook, her children Jody, Janette and Peter, and six grandchildren.
Jody Chester and Heather Goodall