HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-30 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

EKBLOM, MRS A.

Ms BREUER (Giles) (15:23): Today I want to pay tribute to a number of people in my electorate who have passed on recently. I particularly want to pay tribute to Aileen Ekblom, who was mayor of Whyalla for many years and, sadly, passed away last week, only three or four weeks after her beloved husband died.

Aileen Ekblom was somewhat of a legend in Whyalla. She retired in February 1991 after 22 years in local government. She will be fondly remembered by the people of Whyalla as mayor between 1975 and 1991. She was a genuine lady who was passionately proud of her city of Whyalla and much is owed to her. She took us through some very trying times in Whyalla.

She was certainly a true pioneer for women in local government. She was very well known and a gracious civic leader. As a pioneer for women in local government, she led the way for me and my career path through local government and then into this place. I remember when I got preselection I was told that there was no possibility of winning Whyalla because it was a man's town. I pointed out that we had had a woman mayor for many years—so she certainly was a leader for us.

She left Whyalla with a heavy heart after retirement and settled in Adelaide, but her parting words to the future leaders of the city were that they should continue to fight for more developments in the city. She did not want any farewell dinners or gifts, but she was happy to have the year marked—1991—on the mayoral honour roll to show her term of office. I certainly pay tribute to her and thank her for the people of Whyalla.

I also want to pay tribute to another person who was a very dear friend of mine and whom I was very sad to see go, Celia Sultan—or Cissy as we all knew her—and whom we loved. Cissy was the daughter of Harry and Eva Dare. They were a large Aboriginal family who worked on stations in the region of Whyalla. Their first three children were removed by the government from South Gap Station in 1915, charged with being 'neglected' children. The accompanying documents said that the child was wandering about in company with Aborigines. The mother and father are half-caste and frequently wander about with Aboriginals, but both are sober persons. As Cissy clearly stated, 'Well, they were Aboriginal children, how could they not mix with Aboriginal people—they lived together in the camps.' Cissy never ever saw those siblings.

Cissy lived in various places around our part of the state. Much of the her time was spent in Iron Knob. She was living in Whyalla in 1940 when Whyalla was beginning to boom because of the war effort. Local Aboriginal people, including Cissy and her family, were removed from the campsite and taken to Iron Knob. Cissy was the first Aboriginal student in school in Whyalla, and I believe in the state. She was the first Aboriginal student to attend a white school, Whyalla Town School, but she moved on to Iron Knob. She lived in Whyalla for many years, as well as in her later years.

She was much loved by the people of Whyalla, the Aboriginal community, and particularly by the young people. She was wonderful to them. She consistently urged them to do better and to make something of their lives, and I know that they all loved her. We are all very sad. Her funeral was a big funeral. People were very sad to see her go. She was a friend of mine. She regularly had a cup of tea with me and I will miss her. She never sought recognition but we loved her dearly, and I pay tribute to her and express my sympathy to the family, and particularly Rita, her sister, whom she loved dearly.

Also Tjunmutja Myra Watson, a woman of the APY lands, recently passed. She was a leader for her people. She was instrumental in organising the land rights movement in the 1970s and became a major figure in the formation of the Pitjantjatjara Council and the subsequent land rights victory of 1981. She was one of the first to become an accredited translator in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. She was a very knowledgeable woman. She was a staunch Pitjantjatjara woman and the welfare of her people and the land was at the heart of all that she said and did. She recently passed on and I give my sympathy to her family. She will be remembered for her wit, her kindness and her generosity of spirit.

Today I also want to pay tribute to Phil Stone who has not passed on—I certainly hope he has not; I have not heard in the last few hours. He has run our snapper competition in Whyalla for many years. Although he is a paid staff member of council, he certainly did his job beyond the call of duty. He worked for hours and hours, and I am sure our snapper competition in Whyalla would not be as popular as it is if it were not for Phil Stone. Other organisers, Gail Rostig and Rebecca Lichtenberger, and Jenny Byrne from the Whyalla Visitors Centre, played an integral part in running this competition over many years. It is now about to be handed over to new organisers, but I want to say how we in Whyalla appreciate the work of those people, and particularly Phil Stone, our wonderful tourism officer.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT