inser
While her brother was in jail, Shirley began to visit the other Aboriginal people in the prison. She also went to court sometimes to support people who had been charged with crimes. People began to call her 'Mum Shirl', as when police required her to state her relationship with the prisoner, she would answer ‘I’m his Mother’. Some of her time was spent finding homes for children whose parents could not look after them or helping children to find their own parents again. By the early 1990s she had brought up over 60 children.