Joyce Smith

Joyce Smith

The Dream

The Aboriginal Catholic Ministry Melbourne grew from a dream: a dream of belonging, of identity, of ownership and of the unity of Aboriginal people.The dreamers were a group of baptised Aboriginal Catholics who first met at Galiamble, a drug and alcohol recovery centre in St Kilda.Richard Ambrose was Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the Health Commission; Joyce Smith, a Social worker with the Aboriginal Child Care Agency, was a member of the Board of Galiamble, as well as supporting her brother who attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings there; Aub Kinchella had been a resident at Galiamble.
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Richard, Aub and Barb Kinchella, Joyce and other members of the Kelly family, Nellie Moore and others began to meet with Sr Andrea and Sr Joan Hamilton RSJ at the Aboriginal Child Care Agency and at the Mercy Convent at Fitzroy for gospel sharing and exploration of their Aboriginal spirituality and Catholic heritage.
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The opportunity for the Melbourne Aboriginal Catholics to be represented came in a phone call to Joyce Smith from Sr Miriam Gibbons RSM in Dubbo, NSW.There were a couple of spare seats on the bus going from Dubbo to Alice Springs.Would some of the Melbourne Koories like to join the Dubbo mob on their pilgrimage to meet the Pope?So Joyce Smith, her niece Jedda Kelly and Sr Joan Hamilton RSJ set off for Alice Springs with people from the Dubbo area.Joyce remembers the togetherness, the spiritual connectedness of the little group from Melbourne, and the people from outback New South Wales, as they journeyed to Central Australia.
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Joyce, Jedda and thousands of others were energised and empowered by their meeting with other Indigenous Catholics from all around Australia and with the Pope.John Paul II's words gave Joyce and her colleagues a mandate (which some came to regard as their, ammunition') for their struggle to be recognised as Aboriginal Catholics in Melbourne. 'It was a wonderful thing to be with other Aboriginal Catholic people.Once you arrived in Alice Springs there were busloads of other Aboriginal people who'd made that special pilgrimage to be there, and the atmosphere was just electrifying and magic.' Joyce Smith 'The Pope really put out a challenge to us as Aboriginal Catholic people, to take our place within the mother church and that the church would not fully be the church until we made a contribution to it.And those very, very strong words that he said, gave not only myself, but probably Aboriginal people all over this country, that strength, because you needed to have strength, you needed to have confidence to go and seek within your local diocese and to present your case to them, and say 'Hey, we are Aboriginal Catholic people and we want the right to have our masses and our ceremonies in a place that is culturally relevant to us'.So you needed to have those words from the Pope for that to happen, and that was probably the biggest gift that he gave us as Aboriginal Catholic people when he came here.Because I think that, with that visit and that encouragement - and we also had it in black and white, we had that statement in black and white - gave us that strength and that confidence to go forward from there on.' Joyce Smith 'This was not only a call to the Aboriginal people; it was a challenge to the Australian Church, a programme or manifesto for the Church in her service to Aborigines.

I met Sr Andrea at Galiamble, and Joyce Smith.Joyce was on the board at Galiamble.Joyce, Richard and I used to meet at Joyce's house.
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Richard and I used to go there because Joyce cooked a good meal.
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Joyce was inspired by the Pope's visit.She spoke about it brilliantly.It must have been right in her heart.
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Joyce Smith

When it became public knowledge that the Holy Father was coming to Australia and that he had asked to meet the Indigenous people, it caused great excitement in the Catholic Koorie community.This was a statement within itself for us as Aboriginal Catholics who had grown up in a Catholic home with parents who had great faith, and who had come through the Catholic school system.The Pope was someone we all knew of as the head of our Catholic Church and we knew that he lived in Rome, so the news of him coming to Australia was, I suppose, a reinforcement of our Catholic faith and what we believed in.
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Joyce Smith is a descendant of the Mutthi Mutthi people and one of the founders of the ACM.
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Kaye said: 'You'll have to meet Joyce Smith.
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Then Joyce Smith's brother, Tom Kelly, came to Galiamble.
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Joyce, Nellie, Richard, Greg Coe and others often met also at ACCA, the Aboriginal Child Care Agency at the top end of Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, where Joyce worked.

Then Joyce Smith's brother, Tom Kelly, came to Galiamble.
...
Joyce, Nellie, Richard, Greg Coe and others often met also at ACCA, the Aboriginal Child Care Agency at the top end of Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, where Joyce worked.
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Joyce Smith
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Richard Ambrose was Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the Health Commission; Joyce Smith, a Social worker with the Aboriginal Child Care Agency, was a member of the Board of Galiamble, as well as supporting her brother who attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings there; Aub Kinchella had been a resident at Galiamble.
...
Richard, Aub and Barb Kinchella, Joyce and other members of the Kelly family, Nellie Moore and others began to meet with Sr Andrea and Sr Joan Hamilton RSJ at the Aboriginal Child Care Agency and at the Mercy Convent at Fitzroy for gospel sharing and exploration of their Aboriginal spirituality and Catholic heritage.

I met Sr Andrea at Galiamble, and Joyce Smith. Joyce was on the board at Galiamble. Joyce, Richard and I used to meet at Joyce's house.
...
Richard and I used to go there because Joyce cooked a good meal.
...
Joyce was inspired by the Pope's visit. She spoke about it brilliantly. It must have been right in her heart.
...
Joyce Smith
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Joyce Smith
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Joyce Smith When it became public knowledge that the Holy Father was coming to Australia and that he had asked to meet the Indigenous people, it caused great excitement in the Catholic Koorie community. This was a statement within itself for us as Aboriginal Catholics who had grown up in a Catholic home with parents who had great faith, and who had come through the Catholic school system. The Pope was someone we all knew of as the head of our Catholic Church and we knew that he lived in Rome, so the news of him coming to Australia was, I suppose, a reinforcement of our Catholic faith and what we believed in.
...
Joyce Smith is a descendant of the Mutthi Mutthi people and one of the founders of the ACM.
...
Kaye said: 'You'll have to meet Joyce Smith.

"She worked hard being a mother, a wife and a student as well as holding down a job to get her degree," Gates' stepmother Joyce Smith said.

But Gates didn't spend time worrying about herself, Smith said.

"She was a very loving, giving person, especially to her community," Smith said."She always put other people before herself."

And it's those qualities that equipped Gates so well for her chosen profession.

"She would have been a great social worker.