Coleen Shirley Perry Smith AM MBE (22 November 1924 – 28 April 1998), better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Wiradjuri woman, social worker and humanitarian activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians.

Likewise, many people with no family or friends in Sydney arrived at Mum Shirl's Redfern house seeking shelter.

In 1970, Smith, along with Ken Brindle, and Chicka and Elsa Dixon, were the guiding force behind a group of young Aboriginal men and women who were involved in the campaign for land rights by the Gurindji people.

[4] Mum Shirl was an integral and committed part of the Catholic Church of St Vincent's Redfern with the prominent priest Father Ted Kennedy.

Her funeral at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, was presided over by her friend Father Ted Kennedy and was attended by several dignitaries including the Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane, as well as many people whom she had helped over the years.

Two years after her death, Bronwyn Bancroft and the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative organised a tribute exhibition of artworks in her honour.

On 8 July 2018, Mum Shirl was featured in a Google Doodle in honour of NAIDOC Week, which that year had the theme: "Because of her, we can!"