Dr Matilda House (b. 1945) is a Canberra-based Ngambri/Wiradjuri Elder who has dedicated her life to the pursuit of social justice for Indigenous people. One of ten children, she was born on her mother's Country Wirrajah near Cowra, NSW, and then lived at Hollywood, the Aboriginal reserve outside Yass. After marrying at seventeen and having four children, she began working as a liaison officer at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra, assisting Aboriginal people with health, education, welfare and employment. A tireless supporter of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy since its founding in 1972, she helped found the Aboriginal Legal Service in Queanbeyan in the 1980s. She had a key role in establishing the Australian National University's Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre in 1989, which provides support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. House served on the first ACT Heritage Council and contributed to the Bringing Them Home report into the Stolen Generations. Her contribution to her community was recognised by the ANU with the conferral of the Degree of Doctor of the University in 2017.
On the evening of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations on 12 February 2008, House became the first person to perform the Welcome to Country at Parliament House, Canberra. Juno Gemes captured the moment in this photograph.
Purchased 2009
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2022
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