HerStory

Hetty PERKINS
Also known as: Hetti
Born: 1895
Died: 8/12/1979
Aboriginal or Torrest Stait Islander: Yes
Special Achievements:Pioneer of Central Australian pastoral leases.
At the Garden station, north-west of Arltunga, she worked on the property and helped to manage it.
In 1928 she went to the Jay Creek institution for 'half-castes' where she worked as 'senior dormitory girl'. In 1932 it was moved to the Alice Springs telegraph-station buildings and was thereafter known as The Bungalow. Hetty had charge of the infants' dormitory and supervised the cooking.
An Alice Springs nursing home for elderly Aborigines is named in her honour.
Her son Charles was the first Aboriginal secretary (1984-88) of the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs;
her grand-daughter Patricia Turner was the first Aboriginal chief executive officer (1994-98) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission;
her grandson Neville Perkins was secretary (1987-88) of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, New South Wales.
Resources
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Image - Hetty Perkins
Title: Hetty Perkins Photo No: PH0254/0001 Citation address: http://hdl.handle.net/10070/16985 Date taken: 1-Jan-1938 Place: Alice Springs Collection: E. K. Leslie Collection. Description: Hetty Perkins with twin babies. The twins are sleeping on a cane chair and dressed as European babies. It was unusual for Aboriginal twins to survive. Hetty Perkins was Charles Perkins mother. Copyright owner: Northern Territory Library.
Territory Stories - free of known copyright restrictions
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Image - Hetty Perkins
Title: Hetty Perkins, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, ca. 1975 / Bruce Howard. Creator: Howard, Bruce, 1936- Other Creators: Larkins, John, 1943-. Sheilas : a tribute to Australian women. Published: ca. 1975. Series: Sheilas, a tribute to Australian women collection, ca. 1975. Notes: Hetty was an Aranda woman who lived in the Northern Territory in the early to mid 20th Century.
Photo used with permission of Bruce Howard.
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References
Read, Peter. (1990). Charles Perkins: A Biography. Ringwood, Victoria: Viking. Chapter 1: 'Nother name, 'nother country - 1870-1945, pages 1-23,
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References
Slee, Amruta. (2010, October). Soul Sister. Qantas, 61-67.