{{Short description|Aboriginal Australian advocate and community worker}} {{use dmy dates|date=October 2025}} {{use Australian English|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = <!-- defaults to article title when left blank --> | image = Wiradjuri Elder, Aunty Isobel Reid, giving the Welcome to Country at the Centenary of the Kangaroo March launch.jpg<!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Aunty Isabel Reid giving the Welcome to Country at the centenary of the Kangaroo March launch, December 2013 | birth_name = Isabel Hampton<!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = 1932<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Community worker, educator, Indigenous advocate | years_active = | known_for = Advocacy for the Stolen Generations; former resident of the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls | notable_works = }} '''Isabel Reid'''{{Efn|Sometimes misspelt "Isobel".<ref name=heritage2002/><ref>{{cite web | last=Nicol | first=Em | title=Acknowledging Country: a modern history | website=NITV | date=9 June 2017 | url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/acknowledging-country-a-modern-history/86jyf0ojw | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>}} (née '''Hampton'''; 1932), known in her later years as '''Aunty Isabel''', is an Aboriginal Australian advocate for the Stolen Generations and other issues. She is a former resident of the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls.
==Early life and education== Isabel Reid was born Isabel Hampton in 1932 in Quambone, New South Wales, the daughter of Alfred James Hampton and Florence Margaret Hickey, who was from Brungle Mission.<ref name=hampton>{{cite web | title=Hampton, Joe - P02570 | website=AIATSIS Collections | url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/item/a470448 | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref> She is of Wiradjuri descent.<ref name=ausyear/> She was taken along with her brother Jack and sister Betty as they were walking home from school one day, with their parents being told nothing of what had happened.<ref name=ausyear/><ref name=hayter/> They were taken to the local police station, where they were kept for a couple of days before being put on a train to Sydney. The girls were sent to Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, and Jack was sent to Kinchela Boys' Home, and she never saw her brother again.<ref name=nit2021/> Some of her other siblings were Dawn, Margaret Florence, and Sam.<ref name=hampton/>
Aged 16, Reid was taken in by a local GP and his wife, and started working with him. She later said, "They built a little unit on the back of their place and I stayed with them until I was 18. I told him everything".<ref name=story>{{cite web | title='Everyone has a story' – Aunty Isabel encourages connection | website=Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network | date=22 June 2023 | url=https://mphn.org.au/blog/2023/06/22/everyone-has-a-story-aunty-isabel-encourages-connection | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312090641/https://mphn.org.au/blog/2023/06/22/everyone-has-a-story-aunty-isabel-encourages-connection | archive-date=12 March 2025 | url-status=live | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
She then went to TAFE to acquire literacy skills.<ref name=hayter/><ref name=story/>
==Work and advocacy== Reid did volunteer work and was employed at the Riverina Juvenile Justice Centre.<ref name=heritage2002/>
Reid worked at Wagga Wagga Public School, a primary school in Wagga Wagga, teaching Indigenous children to read and write. Reading aloud to them improved her skills.<ref name=nit2021/>
She later became a respected elder of the Wiradjuri people, and advocate for the Stolen Generations and other Indigenous issues.<ref name=ausyear>{{cite web | title=Aunty Isabel Reid | website=Australian of the Year | url=https://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/aunty%20isabel-reid/2353/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117185324/https://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/aunty%20isabel-reid/2353/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=17 January 2021}}</ref> In February 2000, she co-founded the Wagga Wagga Aboriginal Elders Group, later becoming president (2002).<ref name=heritage2002/> Along with Edna Andrew, Penny Everaardt, Joyce Hampton, and Sandy Warren, Reid shared her story in the group's 68-page publication ''Making Waves for a New Dreaming'' in 2001.<ref>{{cite web | title=Making waves for a new Dreaming | website=AIATSIS Collections | url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/item/r000023696165 | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref><ref name=csu2/>
Reid appeared in the 2014 historical television series, ''First Contact''.<ref name=csu2/>
She was appointed one of the inaugural directors of the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation in 2013, and was an inaugural member and chairwoman of the Stolen Generations Advisory Committee in 2016.<ref name=hayter/> Her leadership and work were instrumental to the New South Wales Government offering a reparation package of $74 million to those forcibly removed under the ''Aborigines Protection Act 1909'', until 1969.<ref name=ausyear/><ref name=hayter/>
Reid provided services to Indigenous students at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, including "cultural support and healing". She also performed the Welcome to Country at many university functions.<ref name=csu2019/> She also contributed to the Healing Foundation, and was consulted or provided submissions for public inquiries at all levels of government.<ref name=csu2019/>
Reid led a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 in her home town of Wagga Wagga.<ref name=hayter>{{cite web | last=Hayter | first=Melinda | title='Fighter' for Stolen Generations and Indigenous education Aunty Isabel Reid recognised as NSW Senior Australian of Year | website=ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | date=10 November 2020 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-10/stolen-generation-survivor-isabel-reid-named-nsw-senior-of-year/12866680 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250821060323/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-10/stolen-generation-survivor-isabel-reid-named-nsw-senior-of-year/12866680 | archive-date=21 August 2025 | url-status=live | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref><ref name=nit2021>{{cite web | title=Stolen Generations survivor remains dedicated to the cause| first=Darby |last=Ingram | website=National Indigenous Times | date=22 February 2021 | url=https://nit.com.au/stolen-generations-survivor-remains-dedicated-to-the-cause/ | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
Aged 88 in 2021, she became the oldest living survivor of those forcibly removed under the ''Aborigines Protection Act 1909'' (NSW).<ref name=ausyear/> She has said that she is not bitter about the past, as her life has been a "bed of roses".<ref name=hayter/>
In 2022, Reid contributed to a collection of personal stories, by Wiradjuri Elders, titled ''Growing up Wiradjuri'', edited by Anita Heiss, along with Stan Grant Snr and others.<ref name=sbsbooks/>
In June 2023, Reid told her personal story as part of the launch of a new mental health campaign by Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network, in which she emphasised the importance of connection to culture and community.<ref name=story/>
==Recognition== On 13 December 2019, Reid was bestowed with the Order of the Companion of Charles Sturt University, "for her outstanding contribution to Charles Sturt and the broader community". The citation added that she was also commended "more generally as a Wiradjuri Elder and her firm belief that education is a powerful key to achieving reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians".<ref name=csu2019>{{cite web | title=Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Isabel Reid receives award honour | website=CSU News | date=11 December 2019 | url=https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/aunty-isabel-reid-conferred-the-order-of-the-companion-of-the-university | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250402125323/https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/aunty-isabel-reid-conferred-the-order-of-the-companion-of-the-university | archive-date=2 April 2025 | url-status=live | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
In December 2020, she the mayor of Wagga Wagga held a mayoral reception in her honour, for her work in the community. Morning tea was provided for Reid along with her family and friends.<ref name=nit2021/>
In 2021, she was the NSW State Recipient of Senior Australian of the Year.<ref name=ausyear/>
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, paid homage to Aunty Isabel Reid on 13 February 2021, the 13th anniversary of Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/wyatt/2021/long-way-stolen-generations-still-further-go |website=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia) |first=Ken |last=Wyatt |author-link=Ken Wyatt |date=13 February 2021 |title=A long way from the Stolen Generations but still further to go |access-date=18 May 2021 |archive-date=18 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518014834/https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/wyatt/2021/long-way-stolen-generations-still-further-go |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=I would like to make a couple of statements on this important bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021 and the related bill|author= Andrew Bragg |series=Senate debates | website=OpenAustralia.org | date=2 December 2021 | url=https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2021-12-02.127.1 | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life== Reid married John Robert Reid, a shearer, and they moved to Wagga Wagga in 1970. They had eight children; one daughter died in 1993.<ref name=hampton/> They lived in self-constructed homes or tents, but had a happy home life and their children were well-fed.<ref name=heritage2002>{{cite book|isbn= 1-875247-20-3 | title=Wagga Wagga Heritage Study| first=Dick |last=Green | publisher=Wagga Wagga City Council | date=November 2002 | url=https://wagga.nsw.gov.au/imagesfiles/documents/building-and-development/planning-documents/les/Wiradjuri_Heritage_Study2.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250721024049/https://wagga.nsw.gov.au/imagesfiles/documents/building-and-development/planning-documents/les/Wiradjuri_Heritage_Study2.pdf | archive-date=21 July 2025 | url-status=dead | access-date=1 October 2025| page=206}} Note: Name incorrectly spelt "Isobel Reid".</ref>
==Publications== * Contributing author, ''Making Waves for a New Dreaming'' (2001)<ref name=csu2>{{cite web | title= Aunty Isabel Reid: Citation for the conferral of Order of Companion of the University| url=https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3748174/Citation-Aunty-Isabel-Reid.pdf |publisher=Charles Sturt University| access-date=1 October 2025| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251001075747/https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3748174/Citation-Aunty-Isabel-Reid.pdf| archive-date=1 Oct 2025}}</ref> * Contributing author, ''Growing up Wiradjuri'' (2022), ed. Anita Heiss<ref name=sbsbooks>{{cite web | title=First Nations Booklist 2024 | website=SBS Learn | date=11 December 2024 | url=https://www.sbs.com.au/learn/first-nations-booklist-2024/ | access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
==Footnotes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{YouTube|H4h2x0BG2p0|Aunty Isabel Reid shares her story as a Cootamundra Girls Home survivor }}, NITV News, 29 May 2025
Category:1932 births Category:Australian Indigenous rights activists Category:Wiradjuri people Category:Stolen Generations Category:Living people Category:20th-century Australian educators Category:21st-century Australian writers
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