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he life of Aunty Agnes Josephine Shea OAM was celebrated at St Christopher's Cathedral in Canberra this morning, with her body entering the church to the sound of Anne Murry's There Goes My Everything.
Ngunnawal elder Aunty Caroline Hughes delivered a welcome to country — both in language and in English – and thanked those who had gathered for celebrating the life of the "most loved and most senior Ngunnawal elder".
"Aunty was actually the very first of us to include language in her welcome to country, and I'm honoured to follow in her footsteps," Ms Hughes said.
Ms Shea had a wide variety of accomplishments in her 91 years, including as a founding member of the United Ngunnawal Elders Council and her role in establishing the Ngunnawal Bush Healing Farm – a culturally appropriate alcohol and other drugs rehabilitation service.
As a member of the ACT Heritage Council, she also worked to improve non-Indigenous Australians' understanding of Aboriginal culture.
More than 400 people today attended the funeral, including ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury, and a number of other Legislative Assembly members.'Contributed and consulted for so many things'
Over 400 people attended senior Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Agnes Shea's funeral.(ABC News: Simon Beardsell)
Aunty Agnes's oldest child, her daughter Mary Boek, gave her mother's eulogy.
She shared memories of her mother, from her most impressive achievements in the community to when she taught herself to play the organ.
"In the early 1990s Mum rang me and said 'Oh girl, they want me to join this health committee but what can I do? I've only had a mission education," she said.
"I told Mum that she had been to the university of life, and that she should get involved as I believed she would bring a lot of wisdom and experience to the discussion of the committee.
"This is where Mum's involvement with Aboriginal organisations started."
In addition to being a foundation member of the United Ngunnawal Elders Council, Ms Shea was also a member of the advisory board to ACT Health and contributed to the establishment of Galambany circle sentencing, which culturally supports offenders in the ACT.
VIMEOPromo for the 2016 documentary film Footsteps on Our Land — Agnes Shea Ngunnawal Elder.
"Mum contributed and consulted for so many things here in the ACT – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous issues – and was often acknowledged for her services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the wider community," Ms Boek said.
In 2001, Ms Shae was awarded the Centenary Medal, in 2008 she was selected to be the first Australian citizen to receive the Olympic torch in Canberra, and in 2010 was awarded ACT Senior Citizen of the Year and a place on the ACT Honour Walk.
In 2016 a documentary about Aunty Agnes' life was made, called Footprints on Our Land: Aunty Agnes, Ngunnawal Elder.