Shearer, Heather

Separated from her family at birth, Heather Shearer was adopted into a non-Aboriginal family. She grew up in Adelaide, completely cut off from her culture and from Aboriginal people. Since 1978, Shearer has been actively involved with Aboriginal child welfare groups and family link-up services.

Shearer became Secretary of the South Australian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (ACCA) in 1978, and was active in the establishment of Aboriginal foster care in that state. She was a Coordinator of the Alice Springs Aboriginal Child Care Agency, and Secretary of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC). She attended indigenous peoples’ conferences in Geneva and Norway. In her role as the Aboriginal link-up worker for the South Australian Department for Human Services, Shearer met her family after many years.

An accomplished artist, Heather Shearer designed posters for National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day and the release of the Bringing Them Home report. She is currently the Manager of the Central Australian Stolen Generations and Families Aboriginal Corporation in Alice Springs.

Catalogues

• Shearer, Heather Kemarre et al, Four Circles/Soaring Visions, An international collaboration between Australian Aboriginal artists, Max Mansell and Heather Kemarre Shearer, and First Nations artists of Canada, George Littlechild and Faith Louis-Adams, Catalogue of exhibition held at Tandanya, 1998, and the Richmond Art Gallery, 1999-2000, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, 1998, 15 pp. [ Details... ]

See also

• Briskman, Linda, The Black Grapevine: Aboriginal Activism and the Stolen Generations, The Federation, Annandale, NSW, 2003, 213 pp. [ Details... ]