Vincent Gilbert Copley,[1] usually known as Vince, was born into poverty on a government mission, Point Pearce,[2] in South Australia on 24 December 1936.
Vincent was born the youngest of five surviving children: Winnie, Josie, Colin (who died as a teenager), and Maureen.
[7] There he was treated with kindness, sent to the local school,[8] and met other future Aboriginal leaders and activists, including Charles Perkins, Gordon Briscoe, John Kundereri Moriarty, Richie Bray, Malcolm Cooper, and others.
He worked as a sheep shearer in Curramulka on the Yorke Peninsula, and was recruited to play Aussie rules football with the local team, which he took to the premiership in 1957, 1958 and 1959.
[3] In later life, Copley focused on reclaiming and protection Aboriginal cultural heritage, and was involved in several native title claims for the Kaurna and Narungga people.
[2] After meeting in Burra, South Australia in 1998, Copley set up a research partnership with Claire Smith, and Gary Jackson of Flinders University continued for the rest of his life and beyond.
[6] He also met the King of Jordan, Queen Elizabeth II of England, boxer Muhammad Ali,[3] and Nelson Mandela.
[1] In the 2014 Queen's Birthday honours list, Copley was awarded Member of the Order of Australia, "For significant service to the Indigenous community as an advocate for the improvement of social, legal and economic rights and cultural identity",[16] by Hieu Van Le, governor of South Australia.
[3] His memoir, The Wonder of Little Things, published posthumously in December 2022, was created from Copley's hundreds of recollections, told orally as stories by Lea McInerney.
The book includes photographs as well as suggested reading, and a timeline of important events in Australian and Indigenous history.
Prior to the 1967 referendum, she was a part of a delegation of Indigenous representatives who visited Canberra to lobby MPs to vote yes.
[6] Copley's death preceded the end of the 30-year embargo on the work of Ronald and Catherine Berndt, so he was never able to see the stories told by his grandfather Barney Waria to them.
[1] The Vince Copley Medal is an annual award recognising the "most outstanding cricketer" at the Lord's Taverners's Statewide Indigenous Carnival.