Geraldine Cox

Who is Geraldine Cox?

Geraldine Dorothea Cox AM is president and operator of the Sunrise Children's Village orphanage in the province of Kandal, in Cambodia. She is the only Australian to have been granted Cambodian citizenship by a royal decree from King Norodom Sihanouk.

Originally from Adelaide, Geraldine Cox was posted to Phnom Penh by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970. While in Australia in 1993, Cox helped found the Australia Cambodia Foundation, which operates the Sunrise Children's Village. She moved to Cambodia permanently in 1996, to live with the orphaned children.

Cox is the author of the book Home is Where the Heart Is, an account of her life and the lives of some of the children she has cared for. She is also the subject of the documentary My Khmer Heart, made by Australian filmmakers Janine Hosking and Leonie Lowe.