Shirley Collins - My Country, My Life

Shirley Collins (b. Darwin, 1938) is the daughter of a Stolen Generations mother. Shirley’s remarkable story traces her life from her evacuation from Darwin during World War II to her career as an Indigenous trailblazer in the Northern Territory’s commercial Aboriginal art Industry, 1974-2005.

In 1928 Shirley’s mother Bridget was forcibly removed by police from her Garawa mother Minnie, and her English father, Henry Johnson, who lived near Borroloola. Bridget was forced to live in Darwin’s Kahlin compound. She never saw her family again. In 1938 Bridget married John Rickeard Baird in Darwin.

Shirley’s early life was shaped by the Northern Territory’s World War II history. Evacuated from Darwin with her family just prior to the Bombing of Darwin in February 1942 they did not return until 1948. Growing up in post WWII Darwin was a happy period in Shirley’s life, but tragedy struck in 1953 when her mother died. Her family had to fight the authorities to remain together.

Shirley left school to work at the Northern Territory News. Soon after she met Don Collins and they married in 1956. Don’s army service saw the family living in Sydney, Brisbane,and Mackay. Shirley and Don had two sons, Peter (b.1960) and Lloyd (b.1963). They returned to Darwin in the early 1960s and Shirley found work with a commercial cleaning business.

In 1974, in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, Ms Dorothy Bennett invited Shirley to manage the Commonwealth owned Arnhemland Aboriginal Art Gallery where they forged a formidable working partnership between 1974 and 1986.

In 1986 Shirley established her own Raintree Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery. She poured her heart and soul into the business until 2005. Raintree Gallery was forced to close by a bitter legal and financial dispute with Commonwealth agencies that was not settled until 2018. It cost Shirley her business, herhome and her health.  

Despite the setbacks Shirley Collins’s place in the history of Aboriginal art in the Northern Territory as a trailblazer and advocate is assured. Her story is integral to the history of Australian Aboriginal art and Australia’s national heritage.  

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