- Aunty Agnes Shea has been identified with the permission of her family.
The most senior Ngunnawal Elder, Aunty Agnes Shea, has died aged 91.
Aunty Agnes was a highly respected Indigenous leader and a founding member of the United Ngunnawal Elders Council.
She passed away on Saturday afternoon of old age surrounded by her family.
Aunty Agnes' granddaughter Selina Walker said it was a great loss for the ACT community.
"Our matriarch, she's now reunited with her mum and all of her siblings and all our loved ones in a spirit world, in a Dreamtime," Miss Walker said.
"No doubt we'll have a community event because although she was my grandmother and our family member ... she was owned and loved by the ACT and surrounding region's community.
"There wasn't a lot of people that didn't know Aunty Agnes Shea."
Ms Walker said she went about her life with kindness.
"Everyone's filled with anger and emotions, but 'go forward and kindness,' that was always her message."
Co-chair of the United Ngunnawal Elders Council Roslyn Brown said Aunty Agnes loved everyone and had a heart of gold.
"She was such a strong and dedicated community leader and Ngunnawal leader. She should be given a state funeral for all the work she's done for reconciliation and to progress the country in the ACT region," Ms Brown said.
"She was not only a leader for Ngunnawal and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, she was an elder for all people in Canberra."
Aunty Agnes was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2004 for service to Ngunnawal people by contributing to the improvement and development of services for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the Australian Capital Territory and region.
She was awarded a Centenary Medal, the ACT Senior Citizen of the Year and a place on the ACT Honour Walk in 2010.
In 2016 a documentary was released about her life called Footprints on Our Land, directed by Pat Fiske.
A statement from the Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said Aunty Agnes would be dearly missed by her family and wider community.
"Aunty Agnes was a tireless and much loved advocate for reconciliation, equality and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
"She was well known and respected across the ACT and beyond for her warmth, positive attitude and decades of hard work in the community. Aunty Agnes was loved across the community for her generosity, compassion, integrity and humility; embodying the strength of an Elder in the community."
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said his most special memory of her was during the passing of a motion that instigated the opening of the ACT Legislative Assembly in Ngunnawal language.
"She was so proud and emotional, as she explained to me that as a child she had been prohibited from using her own language on the mission near Yass, and how much it meant to her to see it being adopted for such a public use. She was so delighted at the respect it offered to her people," he said.
Aunty Agnes is survived by three daughters, a son and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Ms Walker said family members would be travelling from all over Australia to attend the funeral, which is still being planned. There are plans for a live stream of the event so that Elders and community members from around the country could participate.
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