Justine Saunders

Justine Saunders (1953–2007), actress and woman of the Woppaburra people from the Kanomie clan of Keppel Island, amassed a solid body of work in film, television and theatre. She appeared in such classic Australian television series as Against the Wind, Number 96, Prisoner, The Flying Doctors, and Heartland, while her film credits include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), The Fringe Dwellers (1985), and Until the End of the World (1991). Saunders' extensive theatre experience included roles in The Crucible (Sydney Theatre Company) and Marginal Farm (Melbourne Theatre Company). In 1985 she was named NAIDOC's Artist of the Year; in 1987 she co-directed the first National Black Playwrights' Conference; and in 1999 she was the recipient of the Australia Council's Red Ochre Award, awarded annually to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person for outstanding lifetime achievement in the arts. In 1991 Saunders was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to the performing arts and to the National Aboriginal Theatre, along with her foundational roles in establishing the Aboriginal-run Black Theatre and the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust. She later returned the medal via Senator Aden Ridgeway in response to the Federal Government's denial of the term 'stolen generation' coupled with the distress it caused her mother. At the 2002 Tudawali Awards, which recognise the work of Indigenous artists in film, television and video, she received the Lifetime Achievement award. Saunders passed away in Sydney in 2007 at the age of 54.