Vince Copley, Ngadjuri elder, activist, sports leader, from special alumni of St Francis home, Port Adelaide
Vince Copley at Redbanks Conservation Park, Burra, in 2018, and (inset) as captain of the Curramulka A Grade football team,1958 premiers in the Southern Yorke Peninsula Football League.
Main image courtesy Flinders University
(Vincent) Vince Copley, Ngadjuri elder, activist and sports administrator, was another of the extraordinary group of Aboriginal boys, including Charles Perkins, Gordon Briscoe and John Moriarty, to emerge from St Francis Anglican Home in Port Adelaide of the 1950s/60s.
Copley lived his early life on the Aboriginal reserve at Port Pearce on Yorke Peninsula. He experienced racism early, including being refused entry at both Ardrossan and Maitland hospitals when he had appendicitis.
At age 10, Copley, was sent by his mother to St Francis home, run by Father Percy Smith, developing a strong bond with the other boys. Copley made a name for himself as a footballer and cricketer. He played junior football with Port Adelaide Football Club, winning the H.W. Tomkins Memorial Medal as fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League under-19s competition in 1953.
He opted for a superior offer to play top level with Fitzoy (where he met future South Australian governor Doug Nicholls) in the Victorian Football League before returning to Adelaide and played (at a generous £20 a game) for the Yorke Peninsula town of Curramulka where he was welcomed, worked with Thomas family on their farm and eventually married their daughter Brenda. At 21, Copley was captain/coach of Curramulka football team. He also played cricket for the town.
In 1965, Copley joined Charles Perkins on the 15-day bus journey – the freedom ride – through regional New South Wales, drawing international attention to the treatment and living conditions of Aboriginal people. Over a lifetime of service, Copley visited almost every Aboriginal community in Australia.
In 2000, Copley's activism and love of cricket saw him elevated to chairman of the National Indigenous Advisory Committee where he organised national and international cricket programmes. He was also instrumental in arranging the 1988 tour of England commemorating the first Aboriginal Australian tour of 1868. His contribution was acknowledged by the Vince Copley Medal recognises the “most outstanding cricketer” at the annual Lord Taverner’s statewide Indigenous carnival.
Later in life, Copley’s focus turned to reclaiming and protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage. He played a vital role in native title claims for the Narangga and Kaurna people. In 2014, he was named as a 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.
Copley’s grandfather Barney Waria was one of the last initiated Ngadjuri men. His stories about Aboriginal knowledge and culture were documented by a trainee anthropologist named Ronald Bernt and the notes stored at the Berndt Museum at the University of Western Australia under a 30-year embargo set to lift in 2024. Vince Copley died in 2022 before getting his wish to see them.
