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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-04 Daily Xml
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DEUSCHLE, VIOLET

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:25): Today I would like to acknowledge that the land we meet on is the land of the Kaurna people. During this week of International Women's Day, I would like to pay a special tribute to one of South Australia's leading Aboriginal women who very sadly passed away on 28 February. Violet Deuschle, known to many people as Auntie Vi in the wider community, was a woman who worked tirelessly for Aboriginal people and who was involved in a large number of significant organisations.

She was born in 1931 at Kingston in the South-East. Auntie Vi was the fifth child of Maria and Lindsay Watson; and, through her Victorian mother, her totem was the red-tailed black cockatoo. A proud Ngarrindjeri woman, Auntie Vi always said that being Aboriginal was one of her great strengths before being Aboriginal and the Aboriginal culture was beginning to be valued and understood. She came to Adelaide in 1952, the first generation of her family to leave their home town. It was in the city that she married and had two children, Karen and Narelle.

Family was a great joy and of great importance to Auntie Vi, and her life's work has been to see improvements and benefits for them and, in turn, for everyone else. In the mid-1970s, after a 36 year break from formal education, Auntie Vi returned to her studies and at the Underdale campus (now UniSA's Unaipon School) completed her associate diploma. I know the high regard in which Auntie Vi is held by Professor Peter Buckskin of UniSA, who is also the Co-Chair of Reconciliation South Australia, and that all members and associates of Reconciliation South Australia feel the same way.

Auntie Vi went on to become a tutor and the first Aboriginal lecturer at the university. In later years she realised her goal and completed her bachelor degree in Aboriginal studies, only retiring from UniSA in 1993. Auntie Vi was committed to her community and spent most of her life seeking to improve conditions for Aboriginal people. She was always dignified in her approach, willing to debate points logically and never losing her demeanour despite provocation and insensitivity, often due to a lack of understanding of the subject at hand. To get a result she was prepared to stand up and ask the tough questions, something she has always encouraged others to do.

She was at the forefront of the beginnings of the reconciliation movement, and from the very start her quiet presence was reassuring and knowledgeable and something I noticed when I first began to make connections and to work with Aboriginal people. She was one of the first members of the Aboriginal Housing Board in the 1970s and was heavily involved in the land rights campaign during this time. As chair of the Aboriginal Executive of South Australia's Jubilee Sesquicentenary Aboriginal Committee in 1986, she was very proud of being a part of the organisation that secured the recognition and development of the Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Centre and the production of the book called Survival in Our Own Land.

Auntie Vi was also heavily involved with NAIDOC and the South Australian Reconciliation Committee in Adelaide, and spent an enormous amount of her time organising events each year to celebrate Aboriginal people and their communities. The 1990s saw Auntie Vi working to establish and develop the Aboriginal women's shelter, Nunga Miminis, at North Adelaide to assist women in her community. She was involved in a number of campaigns fighting for the rights of women, including International Women's Day.

With her educational experience and commitment to social justice, Auntie Vi also worked with the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee and the Aboriginal Justice Consultative Committee to assist with the implementation of the recommendations that came about as a result of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. I know she was always working on the implementation of those recommendations, and, sadly, so many of them are still outstanding.

On a personal note, along with Shirley Peisley, Auntie Vi played a dynamic role in establishing the Florey Reconciliation Task Force. She continued to offer her support and wise counsel whenever it was sought. We owe her a great deal for lending her name and giving her time to many of our local groups' activities.

We are very proud that Auntie Vi Deuschle was part of the South Australian community, and I would like to acknowledge her strength, dedication and commitment on so many levels. Auntie Vi lived through many struggles; and, in speaking with her family before making this contribution, I can assure the house that this lifetime of experience helped sustain her through her final battle with cancer.

Her legacy lives on through her two daughters, Karen and Narelle, their four children and two great-grandchildren. Although she will not see them grow up she will be with them every day. Auntie Vi was greatly loved by all and will be sadly missed.

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