Ida West
{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal elder and memoirist}}
Ida Amelia West {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (30 September 1919 – 8 September 2003) was an Australian Aboriginal elder who was better known as Aunty Ida. She was the author of Pride Against Prejudice.
Biography
Ida West was born on Aboriginal reserve on Cape Barren Island on 30 September 1919{{Cite web|date=2020-07-30|title=Ida West|url=https://www.blakhistorymonth.com/30-july-2020-ida-west|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Australia's Blak History Month 2020|language=en}} and moved with her family to Flinders Island as a young child.{{Cite web|date=2003-09-10|title=West, Mrs Ida|url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansardr/2003-09-10/0123;query=Id:%22chamber/hansardr/2003-09-10/0000%22|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Parliament of Australia}} She was attended school in Lughrata.{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=West, Ida|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE1081b.htm|access-date=2021-07-10|website=The Australian Women's Register|language=en-gb}}
In 1939 she married Marcus Sydney West. They had a daughter and two sons, but divorced in 1960.
West spent her life lobbying for better health services and land rights for the Aboriginal community in Tasmania. She was president of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in Hobart.{{Cite web|title=West, Ida (1919–?)|url=https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/west-ida-17832|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Indigenous Australia}}
In 1984 her memoir, Pride Against Prejudice: Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Aborigine, was published by Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.{{Cite book|last=West|first=Ida|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12483705|title=Pride Against Prejudice: Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Aborigine|date=1984|publisher=Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies|isbn=0-391-03126-0|location=Canberra|oclc=12483705}}
Awards and recognition
West was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for "services to social welfare, justice and reconciliation"{{Cite web|title=Mrs Ida Amelia West|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1122530|access-date=2021-07-10|website=It's An Honour}} and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2002 Australia Day Honours for "service as a leader of the Aboriginal community in Tasmania".{{Cite web|title=Mrs Ida Amelia West|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1132336|access-date=2021-07-10|website=It's An Honour}}
She received the Female Elder of the Year award at the 2002 NAIDOC Awards{{Cite web|title=Sad loss of Aboriginal Elder (Aunty) Ida West|url=https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/media-releases/sad-loss-aboriginal-elder-aunty-ida-west|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Australian Human Rights Commission|language=en}} and was given a National Special Achievement Award at the 2003 NAIDOC ceremony. She was inducted onto the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women in 2005, its inaugural year.{{Cite web|title=Ida Amelia (Aunty Ida) West AM|url=https://www.communities.tas.gov.au/csr/programs-and-services/tasmanian_honour_roll_of_women/inductees/2005/ida_amelia_aunty_ida_west_am|access-date=2021-07-10|website=www.communities.tas.gov.au}}
Death and legacy
West died of cancer on 8 September 2003.
Speeches were made in Australian Federal Parliament on 10 September and in the Tasmanian Parliament on 23 and 30 September 2003, expressing condolences and recognising West's life and work.{{Citation|author1=Tasmania. Parliament|title=Speeches in the House of Assembly on 23 September 2003 and in the Legislative Council on 30 September 2003 to express condolence on the death of Aunty Ida West on 8 September 2003: Tasmanian Aboriginal elder|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/228838045|publication-date=2003|publisher=Parliament of Tasmania|access-date=10 July 2021}}
The Department of Health in Tasmania established the Ida West Aboriginal Health Scholarship in 2003 in her honour.{{Cite web|title=The Tasmanian State Service Annual Report 2014-15: Chapter 8 – Diversity and good workplaces|url=http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/ssmo/about_ssmo/tss_annual_report_2014-15/chapter_8_diversity_and_good_workplaces|access-date=2021-07-10|website=Department of Premier and Cabinet}}{{Citation|author1=Tasmania. Department of Health and Human Services|title=Ida West Aboriginal Health Scholarship|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/228848797|publication-date=2003|publisher=Tasmania Dept of Health and Human Services|access-date=10 July 2021}}
References
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