The impact of the late Aunty Margaret Tucker's life's work for Victorian Aboriginal people was extraordinary.

Born just over the border on the Murrumbidgee River Warangesda Aboriginal Mission in 1904, Aunty Marge, as she's affectionately remembered, has a lasting legacy.

A survivor of the Stolen Generations, she went on to help found the Aborigines Advancement League and Victorian Aboriginal Health Service in the late 1950s and 1970s, was the first woman to take her seat on the state's Aboriginal Welfare Board in the years between, and as far back as the 1930s was a leading voice in the advocacy for Indigenous people as Victoria's representative at the first Day of Mourning, on January 26.

Aunty Marge also left a personal impression and influence on so many in the community in which she spent much of her life in Footscray.

The Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri woman is now remembered, even more so - for all to see - with a major mural in the heart of the suburb.

In 2025, the state government commissioned six works recognising the contributions of trailblazing women, also supporting women artists.

Aunty Marge is one of six celebrated in the second round of the Victorian Women's Public Art Program - three First Nations women among them.

Overlooking Lilardia Park - named in honour of Aunty Marge's Aboriginal name, the railtrack and a stone's throw from the Maribyrnong River, the mural was unveiled with a ceremony on Tuesday.

"It's surreal. People are always talking about nan, but to see something like this produced, it's quite humbling - to think her legacy is being passed on, and we're still doing this work for her and she's still being recognised for the work that she did as a womens activist and Aboriginal activist," Aunty Marge's great granddaughter Tania Rossi told National Indigenous Times.

She said it's so important to keep her voice alive, and celebrate all that her nan achieved.

"It's always present," she said, "for all (people from) all walks of life".

"We embed that in our daily lives...it's always talking about resilience. Sometimes when I come across things that are a bit hard, I turn around and go, 'Well, if Nan can do that. I can do this.'"

Footscray was a place Aunty Marge did much of her work, as did fellow prominent advocates like William Cooper and Pastor Doug Nicholls, Ms Rossi explained, in what was once the centre of a significant Aboriginal community.

Osway Street, a little further north into Melbourne's suburbs where Aunty Marge opened her doors to so many to stay for days or much longer, is also paid homage to in the work.

Accompanying reference to the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers, Lilardia - flowers, her totem animals and others, are words taken from her autobiography.

"WE CAN ALL, NO MATTER WHAT OUR COLOUR, FIGHT WITH COURAGE AND SINCERITY TO PUT RIGHT WHAT IS WRONG IN OUR COUNTRIES," part of the mural reads.

Aunty Marge's granddaughter Barbara Burns and eldest great-grandchild Darren Burns were among the many family members there on that day.

Hopefully those words leave their mark, Aunty Barbara said.

"Like Nan said, it might not be in our lifetime, but in future, we hope one day we all can reconcile," she wished, "If they read that and what it means, hopefully people will absorb it, and one day, like I said, hopefully it all comes together and we live as one," she said.

For Mr Burns, it's an honour to see his nan's story still being told today through the generations.

"It's marvellous. I'm so honoured and so privileged to be here today - to represent my grandmother and the community and the family. I'm more than humbled, and it's beautiful," Mr Burns said.

It's an impact Aunty Marge was able to forge and leave others to benefit from carved out at a time where attitudes and opportunity for Aboriginal people were not what they have become and continue to "stand strong today", he added.

"We wouldn't be standing here today without our ancestors who put in work and pathways for us to follow."

It's the second of the newest round of commissioned pieces unveiled as part of the program, following that recognising Barbara Rae, who captained the winning side of Australia's first women's cricket match in 1874, in Bendigo.

An artwork commemorating Boon Wurrung Elder Aunty Louise Briggs is due to open in the coming months, with another recognising Yarra Yarra Elder, activist, educator and author Aunty Dorothy 'Dot' Peters also to come.

'Three Kurnai Women on Country', a life-size bronze sculpture of Dorothy Hood, Regina Rose, and Euphemia Mullet Tonkin, was opened in Drouin last year.

Victorian Minister for Women and Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas was there for Tuesday's unveiling.

"It's really important that we honour the legacy of such extraordinary women like Arnie maj Tucker and what a beautiful way to be able to do it," Minister Thomas told National Indigenous Times.

"It's so important that we recognise the women that have made such a contribution to our great state and for too long, frankly, their stories have not been told."

Speaking earlier on the day, the Minister remarked that across the state there are more sculptures of animals than women - something which ought to be changed.

On Aunty Marge's impact, she said it's stories and a life like hers which continue to inspire the coming generations.

The mural was completed in around two weeks, after much longer time spent planning, by a team entirely made up of Indigenous women.

Wiradjuri artist Jessi Rebel led its creation.

Resources and photos compiled by the family supported them to 'bring the spirit' of the work, Rebel said.

It's the first of its kind at the scale they've completed.

"We had to really bring to life the parts of Auntie Marge and her story that were really potent in who she was," they added.

There were some nerves that the quote, taken from her autobiography, would get approval from the family as it served as a strong pillar of the piece and representation of "the legacy she has left for us to follow".

"I feel really proud to have been, yeah, the one that got trusted to bring this to life, and that people, yeah, will get to look at this and know a bit of who Auntie Marge was."