She's a proud Wiradjuri women and a strong voice for her people, especially those in the Stolen Generations and in out-of-home care.
Aunty Glendra Stubbs, 68, of Bullaburra has been recognised for her service to the Indigenous community of NSW.
The Indigenous elder, whose name Glendra means peaceful waters in Wiradjuri, has worked for numerous institutions including as CEO of Link-Up NSW, a state-wide service previously based in Lawson, established to reunite families separated through past welfare policies. She started there doing the accounts and now she's an Elder in Residence in many organisations - including for The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
I was then really shocked. But I guess it's for everyone that's been brave enough to have me in their lives.
"I'm now working on the redress - the truth, justice and healing ... and the healing is lifelong. I'm doing my best, " she said.
"Someone said to me once: 'It's really awful what you have to do [hearing the stories of abuse]' but I said - not as bad as it is for the survivors."
When Aunty Glendra heard about the Queen's Birthday Honour she thought it was a "scam".
"I kept on deleting it [the information from the Governor General] and all the phone calls. A friend who nominated me called on the last day [to accept] and said 'call the Governor General's office back'.
"I was then really shocked. But I guess it's for everyone that's been brave enough to have me in their lives."
She grew up in a single garage in Warrimoo, without running water or power and believes her advocacy started in school, sticking up for children who were bullied because they couldn't read.
Aunty Glendra successfully lobbied NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages so that people who were Stolen Generations no longer had to pay for birth certificates because she argued "why should you have to pay for your own information?".
As a mother of three, foster mother of five and respite carer to almost 60 children over many decades, she also argued "that all fostered or adopted children who had their names taken away from them\, should not have to pay for the information".
"I was a bit ballsy in the day, way back when. I guess I've had a manic brain."
She was part of the group formed to help the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd bring in the apology to the Stolen Generations and was in Parliament in 2008 for the announcement.
"I sobbed. It was really emotional, I didn't think the apology would happen in my lifetime."
Her advocates said she has previously worked with the now Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, over many years raising awareness of the impact of Stolen Generations and out-of-home care on Aboriginal families. Together they advocated for better systems to support Aboriginal parents and reduce the numbers of children separated from their families.
She has spoken at state and national conferences on reconciliation and reparation and better criminal justice outcomes for Aboriginal children.
Since 2017 she has worked as an advisor at Knowmore - an organisation providing free legal help for survivors of child abuse.
"The way the system runs with kids in home care, then going to juvenile justice and then ending up in jail, it's just this pathway to trauma and despair.
"I'm trying to make a difference, changing the court systems so they look at the back story instead of seeing people just as perpetrators, sometimes they are victims themselves."
She has spoken out in court to ensure First Nations cultural evidence is considered and helped ensure the NSW Coroner's Court had Indigenous support people when dealing with black deaths in custody.
Aunty Glendra is a former NAIDOC Person of the Year and established an Aboriginal education consultative group at Lawson Public School to improve the experiences of her own and other Aboriginal students at the school.
Now in the throes of an aggressive cancer, she said she is "really grateful for all my family and friends who have supported me through my darkest times. The cancer has been my tap on the shoulder, I do a lot still, but sometimes now it's on Zoom if I'm not feeling well."
She mentors many young Aboriginal people and is an Aunty/Elder in residence in many organisations. The list of organisations she has worked with is extensive, but she is especially proud of her work at Knowmore Legal Service, University of Technology Sydney, ID Know Yourself, Link NSW and Canteen.
"While I've got breath I'm going to make a difference. But now there's so much hope. All these bright, young articulate Aboriginal people are coming through the ranks, it's like I'm passing on the message stick."
