Description
I’ve had a lot of requests for Linda’s portrait. Here she is!
Linda Burney is a member of the House of Representatives in the Australian Federal Parliament, and the Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services and for Preventing Family Violence. She was the first Aboriginal person to serve in the New South Wales Parliament in 2003, and also the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 2016. She is the Member for Barton, New South Wales.
In her inaugural speech to NSW Parliament she said:
‘I did not grow up knowing my Aboriginal family. I met my father, Nonny Ingram, in 1984. His first words to me were, “I hope I don’t disappoint you.” I have now met 10 brothers and sisters. We grew up 40 minutes apart. That was the power of racism and denial in the fifties that was so overbearing. I now have two sets of brothers and sisters. I was raised by my old aunt and uncle, Nina and Billy Laing. They were brother and sister. These old people gave me the ground on which I stand today—the values of honesty, loyalty and respect.’