The family of Indigenous activist Evelyn Scott were overwhelmed when they found out a school in Canberra was to bear her name.
Dr Scott's daughters, Charmaene and Katherine Scott, and granddaughter, Kristine Scott, 13, were speechless as they walked through the doors of the Denman Prospect School on Tuesday.
"I just didn't expect this, it was very overwhelming and it's such an honour," Charmaene said.
"If mum was here today, I know she'd looked at us three and say, 'not bad for a little black girl all the way from Cordelia mountain'."
Dr Scott had to leave school in year four to look after her 13 brothers and sisters while her parents went to work. She went on to forge a legacy of standing up for Indigenous rights and instilled the importance of getting a good education on her children and grandchildren.
Dr Scott started her activism in the Townsville Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Advancement League in the 1960s. She was active in the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and went on to chair the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council from 1997 to 2000.
The Indigenous activists from Queensland were known for being particularly radical. Dr Scott would go out to a protest expecting to be locked up for the night by police.
The family has been in Sorry Business - and have turned down several speaking requests - since Dr Scott's death in 2017. But they couldn't pass up the opportunity to travel from Cairns to attend the Evelyn Scott School official naming ceremony.
The school opened to preschool and primary school students in 2021. Next year it will be welcoming its first high school students.
A plaque was unveiled to commemorate the naming of the school, which had been delayed due to COVID.
The school community also acknowledged a large mural that was designed by Lynnice Church and donated by Joss Construction. The mural incorporates yellow dots to represent wattle, purple 'u' shapes to signify meeting places and a large bogong moth in flight.
Principal Jackie Vaughan said the students were learning about their schools' namesake while also celebrating the cultural diversity of their community.
"We've got 39 countries represented in our school," Ms Vaughan said.
"We have cultural integrity ... at the heart of all that we do at our school. And then from that place, that's when we when we recognise and acknowledge all of the other beautiful richness and diversity around that."
Education Minister Yvette Berry said it was a step towards reconciliation.
"This is the first school in the ACT to be named after an Indigenous woman and we're so proud that it was Evelyn Scott that was selected by the ACT community," Ms Berry said.
Katherine said her mother wasn't one for awards but she would have been pleased to have her name on an educational institution.
"She would be incredibly chuffed but she would not have been comfortable with it because she said you don't do this work for the accolades, you do it because you want to make a difference and it's the right thing to do."
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