Joy Williams, born Eileen Williams and also known as Joyce Riley Williams, Joy Williams Wiradjuri, and Janaka Wiradjuri (13 September 1942 – 22 September 2006) was an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

author of poetry and Indigenous rights activist.

Biography

Joy Williams was born Eileen Williams at the

Crown Street Women's Hospital Crown Street Women's Hospital (now-closed) was once the largest maternity hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was located at 351 Crown Street on the corner of Albion Streets, Surry Hills. The hospital was one of several stand- ...

in Sydney on 3 September 1942. Shortly after her birth Joy was taken from her mother by the Aboriginal Welfare Board and sent to the Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home. At the age of six she was sent to the Lutanda Children's Home run by the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

, first at

Wentworth Falls Wentworth Falls (Postcodes in Australia, postcode: 2782) is a town in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, situated approximately west of the Sydney central business district, and about east of Katoo ...

and later to

Pennant Hills Pennant Hills is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Pennant Hills is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Shire. History The ...

, Sydney. Williams was sent to Lutanda, where she was the only

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

resident, rather than the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls because of her fair skin. Williams went to Hornsby Girls' High School and then at the insistence of the Brethren was sent to the Nurses' Home at Parramatta District Hospital at sixteen to become a nurses' aide. She was later sent to the North Ryde Psychiatric ward and while on weekend leave she became pregnant with her first child, a daughter. Being heavily sedated, Williams was forced to sign adoption papers. In the 1970s Williams received her birth certificate and eventually met her mother. She enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts, English/History at Wollongong University and was the Regional Representative of the Aboriginal Consultative Group. Williams was actively involved with the Aboriginal Community Centre and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Her interest was in Black Literature and hoped that one day this would be taught at all levels throughout the education system. Williams was the first Aboriginal compensation test case against the NSW State Government for negligence by the Aboriginal Welfare Board who were responsible for her removal from her mother and the abuse she endured from the Homes she was sent to. She lost her case in the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in August 1999. In 2000 Joy went to the

New South Wales Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

; her case was heard by Chief Justice Spigelman, Justice Shellar and Justice Heydon and lost that also. On 22 June 2001 the High Court rejected an application for further leave to appeal. Williams died on 22 September 2006 in Primbee, New South Wales.

Writing

* ''Blackberry's Child''. Sydney, New South Wales : Breakout Press, 1991.

References

''Joy Williams''
(31 July 2008). Retrieved 7 August 2008.
"Joy fights for all the stolen children"
(29 September 1993). Retrieved 12 April 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joy 1942 births 2006 deaths Indigenous Australian writers 20th-century Australian poets