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HerStory

Telka Alathea WILLIAMS

Also known as: née Rowe, Althea Telka Rowe, Alathea Telka Rowe

Died: 27 April 2018

Special Achievements:

One of the first women in the Northern Territory public service to be granted equal pay.
1977 - Telka was made Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Additional Information:

1956-1984 - Telka Williams started work in the female section of Her Majesty’s Gaol and Labour Prison Alice Springs, working with Mrs Seymour and Mrs Muldoon.  She served as matron of the gaol during this period.  Telka created “a vibrant and creative prison environment … where city bred vegetarians and indigenous meat eaters taught each their version of home cooking on benches the women tiled themselves, in colourful uniforms they designed and sewed, in cells they painted, as they slept on beds adorned with their own hand made quilts.”

October 2017 - Received the prestigious Margarette Golding Award (International Inner Wheel), for many years of community service.

Telka founded Meals on Wheels in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame (now Women's Museum of Australia) board member.

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