Elaine Crombie, the daughter of Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara native Lillian Crombie, verified the news via social media. Her age at the time was 66 years.
An innovator in the field of arts
The Equity Foundation bestowed upon Crombie a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 in recognition of her artistic contributions.
Playwright and artistic director Wesley Enoch characterized her at the time as an innovator in the expression of First Nations narratives.
“Her phenomenal timing for comedy is legendary.” “Who could ever resist the way she delivers a profound life lesson while eliciting laughter and a wink of the eye and a flash of a smile?” he questioned.
Constantly yearning for her dance academy, she established the Lillian Crombie School of Dance and Drama, which instructs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in regional South Australia in the performing arts.
In an interview with Delving into Dance in 2020,
“Crombie claimed that the institution was designed to provide equal opportunities for all students.
“I really want them to have the same experience as I have and I want the kids to if they do love whatever they do, be a fireman, dancer, policeman, whatever.”
“Your existence depends on your love; therefore, you must never give up on it. Clearly, it is all about experiencing it.
“It’s about experiencing it… and I believe that’s why my visit to NIDA elicited more acting from me.” “I refined and acquired it through dancing; I danced it; dancing bestowed that upon me.”
She established the Lillian Crombie Foundation in 2015 to assist with the travel expenses of Indigenous families featured in Sorry Business.
A versatile performer
Lillian Crombie was raised in the South Australian town of Port Pirie. She studied drama, dance, and acting as an academic.
She attended the Port Pirie Ballet School as a child, where she studied classical ballet. Notably, she was the only Aboriginal female in her class.
She began her career in acting with mime classes and moved to Sydney at the age of sixteen on a dance scholarship.
Lillian Crombie subsequently attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and New York, where she received training before joining the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in the 1980s.
She toured internationally performing plays and appeared in numerous productions across the nation as a distinguished actress.
In addition to Gunjies, Capricornia, The Cherry Pickers, and Rainbow’s End, she has appeared in prominent roles in Mereki the Peacemaker, Conversations with the Dead, Black Mary – Festival of Dreaming, and Rainbow’s End.
She made cinematic appearances in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and television series The Secret Life of Us and Mystery Road before returning to her native country. A recent television miniseries adaptation of the film was entitled Faraway Downs.
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