NSWALC mourns the loss of Land Rights legend Eddie Briggs

4 December, 2017

NSWALC mourns the loss of Land Rights legend Eddie Briggs

4 December 2017

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) pays its respects to Land Rights legend Eddie Briggs who has passed away.

Eddie was a Gumbaynggirr man who has spent most of his life in the Armidale and Dorrigo areas.

On behalf of NSWALC, Councillor for Northern Region Charles Lynch said the Land Rights network had lost a gentle giant who dedicated more than 30 years of his life fighting for the return of land to Aboriginal people and to improving health and housing.

Eddie was one of the first elected NSWALC councillors, a founding member of the Armidale Local Aboriginal Land Council, the Aboriginal Medical Service and a former member of the Northern Tablelands Regional Aboriginal Land Council.

He was a Board member of Dorrigo Plateau Local Aboriginal Land Council and remained very proud to be the Gomeroi representative for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander regional council.

Eddie's contribution to the Land Rights network was honoured in 2015 when he received an Elders Award at the NSWALC Statewide Conference.

"Eddie was quietly spoken, humble and generous. We will all miss his wisdom and commitment to the Land Rights movement and his fight for the betterment of Aboriginal people as a whole.

"We will all miss him heaps but his memory lives on," Cr Lynch said.

Acknowledgement

We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of the lands where we work as well as across the lands we travel through. We also acknowledge our Elders past, present and emerging.

Artwork Credit: Craig Cromelin, from a painting he did titled, "4 favourite fishing holes". It is a snippet of his growing years on the Lachlan River, featuring yabby, turtle, fish and family.

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