A warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, this story below contains the name of a deceased person. The Courier has chosen not to use a photo of the deceased person at this stage, due to cultural sensitivities and respect.
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BALLARAT and District Aboriginal Cooperative has confirmed the death of a beloved elder and one of the cooperative's founding members.
Aunty Diana Nikkelson died after a long running battle with cancers for almost 20 years.
A statement from BADAC on late Tuesday stated Aunty Di's "presence and passion has always been felt within the walls of BADAC and our community for over 40 years".
Aunty Di was a staunch advocate for children in Aboriginal care and served on the BADAC board as chairmanager and director for more than 15 years, helping to launch the cooperative, in its foundation space in Ballarat East, primarily to help children.
BADAC confirmed in a social media post on Tuesday that Aunty Di had entered the Dreamtime.
Below is a story from when The Courier met with Aunty Di last month to talk about her living wake after learning her stomach cancer had returned with a vengeance.
Before the Dreaming: What Aunty Di wants everyone to consider (December 8, 2022)
"WONDERFULLY exhausted", Aunty Diana Nikkelson gradually drifted off to sleep on Saturday night reflecting on her living wake.
The celebration of her life has given the Ballarat Aboriginal elder renewed energy this week and she quips it has completely put her off dying for awhile - she was keen for a few more parties first.
About a month ago, Aunty Di's scans revealed "Dennis the Menace" was back - the stomach cancer she had removed two years ago had returned as an eight-centimetre tumour. There are lesions on her liver and lungs.
Aunty Di had a laryngectomy for throat cancer almost 20 years ago. She has leukaemia and diabetes.
When the oncologist gave her the latest diagnosis, Aunty Di responded by doing what she is determined to do best - living life to the fullest.
Aunty Di, a proud Gunditjmara woman, requested a living wake in the clubrooms of her beloved Sebastopol Football Club. She recommended it to anyone who was told they were dying, to make the time.
This was not just about sharing memories, but making special memories - besides, Aunty Di did not want to miss what people might say in her funeral.
"I stood up on stage and the room was wall-to-wall with people," Aunty Di said. "It was the most beautiful thing...there were friends I haven't seen as well, sharing memories again, and the family getting together.
Aunty Di even got her daughters to queue up for their turn to speak with her. She talked and laughed all day and has kept laughing about the memories since.
Daughter Nikki Foy said guests were amazing.
"This was a beautiful celebration of life and tell her what she has meant to them," Ms Foy said. "We were hearing what a great idea it was and we're so glad we did it."
Aunty Di has become a much-loved community elder through her work as a founding member of Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative and popular artworks about town.
A keen speedway driver, Aunty Di used to race EJ and FJ Holdens and was paid $12 if she rolled a car in action, to create a bit more of a spectacle for crowds.
Life started tough for Aunty Di, born the eldest of 10 children and with a tumultuous, abusive upbringing in western Victoria.
Twice she ran away from home. The first time she was 13 years old and made it to Roxby Downs in South Australia where she was "living the dream with horses". The second time she made it to Western Australia for three months before eventually moving home.
Aunty Di had her first baby when she was 18 years old and he died seven months later. She lost her second son to suicide, aged 34. She also raised "seven adorable daughters".
"My kids was my life," Aunty Di said.
While Aunty Di is a survivor of the Stolen Generation, she spent most of the 1970s living in fear of her children being removed because she was a single Aboriginal mother.
Aboriginal housing brought Aunty Di to Ballarat. Concerns for children getting into trouble at school helped lay the foundations for BADAC, of which Aunty Di was a long-serving chairman.
Aunty Di studied hard at the School of Mines in family support worker and art and design courses.
You can see her goanna etched into the basalt paving in Police Lane, behind Art Gallery of Ballarat. This was a legacy of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Her haunting image, cloaked in possum skins beside a misty Lake Wendouree, has become well-associated with Ballarat's first Survivor Day dawn ceremony, almost three years ago.
Aunty Di's resting bed has been carefully and lovingly painted by her daughter Marley Smith with her story to carry her to the Dreaming.
Aunty Di added her footprints not long before The Courier's visit, laughing her toes still flecked with paint.
She has a taste of what her larger legacy is now, in the kind words from those who know and love her at her wake. She is gradually reading all the written messages left for her but has had a little trouble seeing them through tears of love.
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