The last remaining Aboriginal member of the South Coast Aboriginal Advancement League, Bobby Davis, has died aged 80.
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Described as "a true fighter", he brought housing to Kemblawarra's Coomaditchie mission, where the Illawarra's indigenous community lived in tents and cars.
He and his wife Mary convinced a community mistrustful of white society to unite with Wollongong's staunch trade union movement for their cause.
He co-founded the now defunct South Coast Aboriginal Advancement League with local miner and unionist Fred Moore in Mr Moore's kitchen one night in 1961.
The two men formed a lifelong friendship, successfully campaigning for constitutional change and equality when local indigenous communities were denied basic rights on a daily basis.
"At the time the picture shows in Nowra were roped off to Aborigines and Aboriginal women couldn't go dress shopping without a white woman, because they weren't allowed to touch anything or try stuff on - it was terrible," Mr Moore said.
"Bobby and his wife were living out of their car in Coomaditchie in rough conditions but he built up trust and broke the barriers between white and black communities."
The men formed an unlikely friendship, bonded with long bus rides to Canberra and picket lines culminating in Bobby making Mr Moore an honorary indigenous elder.
"I miss him and he was a great leader and fighter right up until his last breath," Mr Moore said.
Bobby Davis' son Richard remembers growing up in the back of a car on the mission while watching his parents fight for civil rights under the White Australia policy.
"They were the early trailblazers and growing up in the car was hard, but if you grow up in adversity you grow up strong, that's what my dad taught me," he said. "He taught us to be proud of who we are, to be strong, to respect others regardless of where they come from and it's something I've instilled in my kids."
Mr Davis described his father as a keen fisherman, fond of beer, with a razor sharp wit who was proud at having lived long enough to become a respected elder in the community.
Bobby Davis had five children - Richard, Selena, Robert, Joe and Leslie and is also survived by eight grandchildren and his sister, Dorrie Moore.