The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Mollie Dyer, of Yorta Yorta descent, was instrumental in establishing the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) in 1977, and became its first Program Director. She fostered 20 children from Aboriginal communities in Victoria, as well as having six of her own. She advocated for the adoption legislation in Victoria to prevent Aboriginal families unnecessarily surrendering their children and was involved with the establishment of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) in the early 1980s.

Dyer received an Advance Australia medal and an Order of Australia award for ‘her outstanding contribution to the advancement and enrichment of Australia, its people and its way of life’.

Mollie Dyer died in 1998 after a long illness.