THE Goldfields Aboriginal community is much poorer for the passing of Leonora identity, Sadie Canning MBE, whose funeral will be held in Perth on Saturday.

Goldfields Land and Sea Council (GLSC) chief executive officer, Brian Wyatt, said: “The GLSC passes its deepest sympathies to her family. Few people have contributed as much as Ms Canning did to the well-being of Goldfields indigenous people.”

Born at Laverton, Ms Canning was brought up at Mount Margaret Mission. She had only intermittent contact with her parents who lived on the surrounding country of her Wongatha people.

She became WA’s first indigenous hospital matron at Leonora Hospital in 1958, two years after she began there as a nursing sister. She worked at the hospital for 32 years until her retirement in 1990.

Ms Canning completed her nursing training in Melbourne because as an Aboriginal person she was not accepted into a position in WA.

She was awarded an MBE in 1964 for her service to nursing.

Mr Wyatt said Ms Canning was extremely proud of her heritage and maintained a strong connection to her country and family.

In the 2003 publication Ngayaku Kapi – stories from the north-east Goldfields, Ms Canning was quoted as saying nursing at Leonora provided the “opportunity to reconnect with my Wongatha roots”.

She was a claimant for the Wongatha native title claim, was a staunch advocate for recognition of Aboriginal people and their culture, and was always available to provide wise counsel to indigenous and non-Aboriginal people, including politicians and industry and community leaders.

“Her strong advocacy for maintaining connection to land came from two directions - first, her own view that land and identity are central to Aboriginal culture; and second, this was also a core philosophy of missionary Rodolphe Schenk who established the Mount Margaret Mission where she spent her childhood,” Mr Wyatt said.

“Schenk was deeply concerned about the corruptive influence that Western society would have on Aboriginal people. The fears of Schenk and Ms Canning have proven prophetic,” he said.