HerStory Archive

Amboora

Amboo­ra worked for the Brad­shaw fam­i­ly at the Alice Springs Tele­graph Sta­tion as a housemaid.

Alison ANDERSON

Born 1958

Also known as: Alison Nampitjimpa Anderson

Activist and politi­cian for Indige­nous peo­ple with­in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, espe­cial­ly Cen­tral Aus­tralia. She was a mem­ber of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly between 2005…

Maisie AUSTIN

Born 22 May 1949

Also known as: Maisie Adams

Maisie Austin was the first woman in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to become an Asso­ciate of the Aus­tralian Insur­ance Insti­tute (1977). Dur­ing the 1970s, Maisie start­ed work for an insurance…

Faith BANDLER

Born 27 September 1920, Died 13 February 2015

Also known as: Ida Lessing Faith Mussing

1976 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of the British Empire but declined1984 appoint­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia in recog­ni­tion of ser­vice to Abo­rig­i­nal welfare1994 award­ed an…

Maroochy BARAMBAH

Born c. 1950

Also known as: Yvette Isaacs

Maroochy Baram­bah is a dis­tin­guished Indige­nous musi­cian whose career since the 1970s has spanned the gen­res of jazz, rock, musi­cal the­atre and clas­si­cal opera. She was the first…

Larissa BEHRENDT

Born 1 April 1969

First Abo­rig­ine to earn a doc­tor­ate from Har­vard Law School in USA. 
Pro­fes­sor of Law at Syd­ney Uni­ver­si­ty of Technology.

1993 — Won the Lionel Mur­phy Foundation…

Mary Ann BIN-SALLIK

Born 2 November 1940

Hold­ing both a Mas­ters (1986) degree in Edu­ca­tion­al Admin­is­tra­tion and a Doc­tor­ate (1989) in Edu­ca­tion from Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, USA, she was also the first Indige­nous grad­u­ate in…

Rayleen BROWN

Also known as: née Howard

2000 — Cre­ator, man­ag­er, and oper­a­tor of Kun­ga’s Can Cook, Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.2011 — North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Research and Inno­va­tion Award co-recip­i­ent of Desert…

Suzane BRYANT

1968 – 1971 — First Abo­rig­i­nal air host­ess (Ansett Air­lines of New South Wales).

Linda Jean BURNEY

Born 25 April 1957

2003 — First Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian to be vot­ed into the 147 year old New South Wales Par­lia­ment, as mem­ber for Can­ter­bury. The ​“fourth Abo­rig­i­nal woman elect­ed any­where in…

Miriam Edith CANNING

First Abo­rig­i­nal (and first woman) vet­eri­nary sur­geon in Australia.

Born and raised at Leono­ra near Kal­go­or­lie, West Aus­tralia. Qual­i­fied for her pri­vate pilot’s licence…

Sadie Miriam CANNING

Born 11 April 1930, Died 3 September 2008

Also known as: née Corner

One of the first trained Abo­rig­i­nal nurs­es and matrons in West­ern Aus­tralia, did not start qual­i­fy­ing until the 1950s.
1964 — Queens’ Birth­day Hon­ours- Award­ed a Mem­ber of the British…

Elna Joy Cardona CARDONA

Born 18/3/1956

Also known as: Joy Cardona

Joy Car­dona is the first woman in Aus­tralian Rules to offi­ci­ate a rep­re­sen­ta­tive match. This was the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry ver­sus Hawthorn in 1991, and she still has the score card! She…

Evonne Fay CAWLEY

Born 31/07/1951

Also known as: née Goolagong

First Abo­rig­i­nal Aus­tralian to win the pres­ti­gious Wim­ble­don ten­nis ladies’ sin­gles tour­na­ment title (1971).

Ten­nis — 14 Grand Slam Tour­na­ment Titles — sev­en in…

Deborah CHEETHAM

Born 24 November 1964

Aus­trali­a’s first female Indige­nous opera singer; in 2007, wrote ​“Pecan Sum­mer,” Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous opera, then trained the nec­es­sary Indige­nous singers;…

Jane CHRISTOPHERSEN

Born November 1924

Also known as: née Wilkinson, Garlil (birth first name), Jane Ah Mat

1946 – 1947 — Formed first Abo­rig­i­nal net­ball team ​‘The Kook­abur­ras’. ​“Old timers say that the Ter­ri­to­ry has nev­er pro­duced a bet­ter goal shoot­er, male or female. She was tall,…

Marilyn Jodie CLARKE

Also known as: née Kong

First Aus­tralian Abo­rig­i­nal spe­cial­ist, Obstetrician/​Gynecologist.

1997 – 1998 — Mar­i­lyn and her twin sis­ter Mar­lene were the first Indige­nous women to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of…

Daphne Rosina COLLESS

Born 28 May 1928, Died 10 June 2016

Also known as: née Oliver, Rose

First Aborginal woman man­ag­er of the Alco­hol Relief Cen­tre, Cairns, Queensland.
1984 — Received the Medal of the Order of Australia.

1987 — The first recip­i­ent of the Human Rights…

Anna COLLINS

Born 1916

Also known as: née Cubillo

Her moth­er Lily was the daugh­ter of the Lar­rakia woman Annie Duwun and Scot­tish-born George McKed­die. Anna’s father was Fil­ipino, Anto­nio CUBIL­LO. Ted ​“Cow­boy” COLLILNS…

Dido COOPER

Born 1893

When Ade­laide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurs­es … with the help of Abo­rig­i­nal women like Dido Cooper.

Ellen CUPER

Born 1847, Died 12 January 1877

Also known as: née Ramsey/Ramsay, Maria (Maria) Ellen Pangieran, H(elen) Cuper

Appoint­ed post­mistress at the mis­sion sta­tion in New Nor­cia, West­ern Aus­tralia in 1874, she became the first indige­nous to attain such a posi­tion in Aus­trali­a’s pub­lic service.

Dolly

Min­nie GILLEN ran the house­hold with the help of two Arrente Abo­rig­i­nal women, Dol­ly (Aritcheuka) …, who also looked after her two boys.

Agnes DUBOIS

Born 17 August 1914, Died 9 January 2009

Also known as: née Draper, Aunty Agnes

Born at Hamil­ton Downs and arrived in Alice Springs when one (1) week old. Lived in the chil­dren’s home behind the Stu­art Arms Hotel and Jay Creek before set­tling at the Old…

Sandra EADES

Born 1967

The Uni­ver­si­ty of New­castle’s first Abo­rig­i­nal med­ical grad­u­ate, she is one of only approx­i­mate­ly 50 Abo­rig­i­nal doc­tors prac­tic­ing in Aus­tralia. Dr Eades is also Australia’s…

Josie FARRER

1989 — First indige­nous woman to head a local gov­ern­ment coun­cil. She was first vot­ed onto Halls Creek Shire Coun­cil in West­ern Aus­tralia in 1989 and was Pres­i­dent for sev­en years.…

Catherine Astrid Salome FREEMAN

Born 16 February 1973

Also known as: Cathy

Cather­ine Free­man was the first Abo­rig­i­nal per­son to win an inter­na­tion­al track medal at the Com­mon­wealth Games (Auck­land, 1990) (at the age of 16) and the first to win Commonwealth…

Pearl Mary GIBBS

Born 1901, Died 28/4/1983

Also known as: Gambanyi

Pearl Gibbs was an Abo­rig­i­nal leader and fought all her life for the rights of Indige­nous Aus­tralians. Her moth­er, Mary Mar­garet Brown, was born in Bre­war­ri­na. Her moth­er was Maria,…

Alfreda GLYNN

Also known as: Freda

A co-founder of the Cen­tral Aus­tralian Media Asso­ci­a­tion Group of Com­pa­nies (CAA­MA) in 1980 which includes Impara­ja, the first Abo­rig­i­nal com­mer­cial tele­vi­sion sta­tion commenced…

Erica GLYNN

Born 1964

Writer of Indige­nous sto­ries. Direc­tor of doc­u­men­taries and films. Some to men­tion are My Bed, Your Bed; Redream­ing the Dark; and Maude and Pearlie Too.
2017 — Recip­i­ent of the David…

Rona Ellen GLYNN

Born 24 September 1936, Died 4 January 1965

Also known as: Rona Schaber

1955 — First Abo­rig­i­nal teacher in Alice Springs (grade 2 — Hart­ley Street School).
1962 — First Abo­rig­i­nal charge sis­ter (mater­ni­ty ward) in Alice Springs Hospital.
1965 — First…

Sally Sophia GOOLD

Born 1 January

Also known as: née Bamblett, Dr Sally Bamblett

First Abo­rig­i­nal Reg­is­tered Nurse at Abo­rig­i­nal Med­ical Ser­vice, Red­fern, New South Wales.

2005 — Award­ed Roy­al Col­lege of Nurs­ing (Queens­land) Dis­tin­guished Nurs­ing Award.
2002 -…

Natalie HARWOOD

2003 — A recip­i­ent of the Trib­ute to North­ern Territory.

Vice-Pres­i­dent Bagot [Dar­win, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry] Com­mu­ni­ty Council.Established the Bagot Break­fast Pro­gram for…

Kathryn Isobel HAY

Born 24 November 1975

2002 — First Indige­nous woman elect­ed to State and Ter­ri­to­ry Parliaments.

Ruth HEGARTY

Born 1929

1929 — First Abo­rig­i­nal baby born at Mitchell Hos­pi­tal, Mitchell, Queensland.
Now an author, her first book, Is That You, Ruthie? (1999), was an auto­bi­og­ra­phy. Her sec­ond book is…

Jacqueline Gail HUGGINS

Born 19 August 1956

Also known as: Jackie

2000 — Received the Queens­land Pre­mier’s Mil­len­ni­um Award for Excel­lence in Indige­nous Affairs.
2001 — Appoint­ed a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, ser­vice to the indigenous…

Suzi HUTCHINGS

Born 25 March 1962

Also known as: Dr Susan Jane Hutchings, Dr Suzi Hutchings

1995 — Pio­neer Arrente woman with PhD from Ade­laide University.Co-ordinates and teach­es in Indige­nous Policy.

Lillian INKAMALA

Born 1966

Artist

For­mer health work­er at Iman­pa Health Clinic
Worked for two years as an Anan­gu edu­ca­tion work­er at the Iman­pa Pri­ma­ry School

Kim ISAACS

First Yawu­ru and Kalapir­ri per­son to become a doctor.

Kim Isaacs is a Yawu­ru, Kalapir­ri and Noon­gar woman.
Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine and Bach­e­lor of Surgery, Uni­ver­si­ty of Western…

Magdalene JOHNSON

Born 1/7/1905, Died 26/1/2010

Also known as: Maggie

Worked as drover, cook, teacher, car­er. Dur­ing World War II ​“she worked as a cook for hun­dreds of peo­ple” at the mis­sion at Arltunga.

At time of death, 2010, Alice…

Nancy KALENIK

Part of pio­neer­ing Abo­rig­i­nal fam­i­ly of Man­an­goo­ra Sta­tion, near Borroloola.

Mar­ried to a Yugosla­vian fish­er­man who fish­es the Gulf.
Nan­cy Kalenik fea­tures in Melissa…

Stella KARIOFYLLIDIS

Doreen Maude KARTINYERI

Born 1935, Died 2/12/2007

Doreen Kartiny­eri was a promi­nent Abo­rig­i­nal activist and his­to­ri­an. She was a child of the stolen gen­er­a­tion, worked as a domes­tic ser­vant from the age of thir­teen, had eight…

Karen KIME

Also known as: Reverend Karen Kime

Karen Kime was ordained as a priest in the Angli­can Church of Aus­tralia in 2000.She was the first Abo­rig­i­nal woman to become a priest in New South Wales.

In Feb­ru­ary 2012, Karen was…

Maureen Patricia KIRK

Born 13/9/1955, Died 23/4/2001

Also known as: née Brown

In 1987, Mau­reen became the first Indige­nous vol­un­teer can­cer sup­port work­er in Aus­tralia. She was diag­nosed with breast can­cer in 1987 and, at the time, there were no cancer…

Emily Kame KNGWARREYE

Born 1910, Died 2/9/1996

In 1995, Emi­ly became the first Indige­nous woman artist to have a major ret­ro­spec­tive. She was born in 1910 on Utopia Sta­tion where she worked as a stock­man and became a senior figure…

Marlene KONG

1997 – 1998 — Mar­lene and her twin sis­ter Mar­i­lyn were the first Indige­nous women to grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor of Med­i­cine from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Sydney.

1993 — Inau­gur­al win­ner of the…

Rene KULITJA

Born 12/12/1958

Also known as: Wanuny Kulitja

Rene Kulit­ja is the first Abo­rig­i­nal artist to have her art work paint­ed on a domes­tic Qan­tas air­craft. She designed the Yananyi Dream­ing for the Qan­tas Boe­ing 737. The Yananyi…

Rosalie Lynette KUNOTH-MONKS

Born 1937

Also known as: Ngarla KUNOTH, Rosie

In 1955, Ros­alie became the first Abo­rig­i­nal female to take lead role in a fea­ture film (Jed­da). This film was Aus­trali­a’s first fea­ture-length colour movie. 

After leav­ing the…

Amelia KUNOTH

Born 1880s, Died 1984

Also known as: née Pavey

Pio­neer with hus­band, H.E. ​“Trot” Kunoth in ear­ly devel­op­ment of pas­toral prop­er­ties Utopia, Tempe Downs, and others.

Ameli­a’s father Ted Pavey oper­at­ed the…

Marcia Lynne LANGTON

Born 31 October 1951

1993 — Award­ed Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia, for ser­vice as an anthro­pol­o­gist and advo­cate of Abo­rig­i­nal issues.

2000 — Inau­gur­al Pro­fes­sor of Aus­tralian Indige­nous Studies,…

Georgia LEE

Born 1921, Died 23/4/2010

Also known as: Aunty Dulcie Rama Pitt, Dulcie Rama Pitt

Geor­gia Lee was the first Indige­nous Aus­tralian artist to record Blues songs, a Blues album, and the first Indige­nous woman to record an album. She also is cred­it­ed as hav­ing the…

Gloria Ouida LEE

Born 14/07/1908, Died 13/04/1995

Also known as: née Hong, Siew Yoke Kwan

Glo­ria or Siew Yoke Kwan was born in the creek under a tree in Stu­art in 1908, the daugh­ter of a West­ern Arrernte woman Ran­ji­ka and Chi­nese mar­ket gar­den­er, Ah Hong. But for her…

Nellie LESTER

1938 — Nel­lie Lester was the first Abo­rig­ine to attend High School at Quorn, South Australia.
First Abo­rig­i­nal, triple cer­ti­fied, nurs­ing sister. 
First Matron of Abo­rig­i­nal descent,…

Amy LEVAI

Born 1930, Died 29/3/2013

Also known as: née O'Donoghue

First Indige­nous teacher in South Australia.
1989 — Award­ed NAIDOC Abo­rig­i­nal of the Year; 1998 NAIDOC Abo­rig­i­nal Elder of the Year.
2010 – Received award for Out­stand­ing Ser­vice from…

Leanne LIDDLE

1988 — Became South Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous police woman.

Lorraine LIDDLE

Born 1956

1986 — The North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry’s first Abo­rig­i­nal lawyer, trav­el­ling between com­mu­ni­ties as a Bush Lawyer in Cen­tal Australia.

Susan MARAWARR

Born 1967

Abo­rig­i­nal print­mak­er, sculp­tor, weaver and bark painter; exhib­it­ed through­out Aus­tralia, toured USA, with exhi­bi­tion in 2001.

Her work is held in many nation­al collections…

Carol Anne MARTIN

Born 13 October 1957

Also known as: née Pilkington

2001 — First Indige­nous woman to be elect­ed to an Aus­tralian Parliament.

Andrea Jane MASON

Born 1968

2004 ‑First ever female Abo­rig­i­nal Par­ty Leader when she was made Nation­al Pres­i­dent of Fam­i­ly First.

1988 — Bach­e­lor of Arts degree in Abo­rig­i­nal Affairs and Public…

Sandra MAY

Mabel MEIN-BEL

Born 1934, Died 5/06/2016

Also known as: Mabel Jimarin

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to have quadru­plets (all girls) in 1968, as well as the first North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry quads. Then, in 1969, gave birth to twin girls.

Nanagu group; Brinkin…

Alice Mary MILLER

Born 1907, Died 25 March 1974

Also known as: Lulla, Alice Mary Linklater

Part Abo­rig­i­nal woman who lived as a fam­i­ly mem­ber with Love­grove, Faw­cett, Eas­t­on, and Fitzer families.

Patricia Ann MILLER

Born 1947

Also known as: née Liddle, Pat

1995 — Named Abo­rig­i­nal of the Year by Nation­al Abo­rig­ines and Islander’s Day Obser­vance Committee.
1997 — Received award from Nation­al Abo­rig­ines and Islander’s Day Observance…

Tracey MOFFATT

Born 12/11/1960

1990s — First suc­cess­ful Indige­nous Aus­tralian woman pho­tog­ra­ph­er and film mak­er. Mof­fatt is a con­tem­po­rary artist using a vari­ety of tech­niques, such as col­lage, set design, and…

Maryanne MORTON

2003 — First Abo­rig­i­nal woman to head up an Aus­tralian com­pa­ny earn­ing more than $50m a year. Award­ed North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Star of Achieve­ment from Chief Min­is­ter Clare Martin.…

Dorothy NAPANGARDI

Born 1958, Died 1/06/2013

Dorothy began paint­ing in 1987. Her artist sis­ter Eunice Napan­gar­di intro­duced her to it.
1991 — Dorothy won the Best Paint­ing in Euro­pean Media and 8^th Tel­stra Nation­al Aboriginal…

Sylvia Purrurle NEALE

Born 1934

First Alice Springs Library Indige­nous Ser­vices Officer.

NGANYINYTJA

Born late 1920s

1993 — Made a Mem­ber of the Order of Australia.

5 Feb­ru­ary 1980 — She chaired the first mod­ern polit­i­cal wom­en’s meet­ing on Anan­gu Pit­jan­t­jat­jara Lands.

Maude NICHOLLS

Born 08/1902, Died 26/01/1999

Also known as: née Cooper, née Pepperill

Lived on Undoolya Sta­tion. Went to school at Ida Stan­d­ley’s Bun­ga­low which was locat­ed in Par­sons Street at that time.Husband was a road builder and builder of ​“Turkey…

Oodgeroo NOONUCCAL

Born 3/11/1920, Died 16/9/1993

Also known as: Kath Walker, born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska

Self-edu­cat­ed from the age of 13, through her employ­ers’ libraries when a domes­tic ser­vant, this Noonuc­cal woman from Queens­land’s Strad­broke Island wrote the anthol­o­gy of…

May Lorna O'BRIEN

Born 20 May 1932, Died 1 March 2020

Also known as: née Miller

First Abo­rig­i­nal teacher in West­ern Australia.
1970 — Won a Churchill Fellowship.
31 Decem­ber 1977 — Award­ed the British Empire Medal, for work in Abo­rig­i­nal education.
Award­ed the…

Lowitja O'DONOGHUE

Born 1932

Also known as: Lois

Appoint­ed found­ing Chair­per­son of the Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander Com­mis­sion (ATSIC) in 1990 and ded­i­cat­ed to work­ing for the rights of her peo­ple, she had been the first…

Patricia June O'SHANE

Born 19/6/1941

Also known as: Pat

Pat O’Shane has many firsts to her name. She was the first Abo­rig­i­nal woman to become a school teacher in Queens­land, the first Abo­rig­i­nal woman to grad­u­ate in Law at an…

Jacqueline PAYNE

Also known as: Jacquie

Mag­is­trate Jacque­line Payne was the first Indige­nous woman to be admit­ted as a solic­i­tor in Queens­land. She worked in crim­i­nal defence for four­teen years: for the ATSI Corporation…

Nova Maree PERIS

Born 25 February 1971

Also known as: née Peris, Nova Peris-Kneebone

1996 — First Indige­nous Aus­tralian to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
1997 — Named Young Aus­tralian of the Year.
2000 — First car­ri­er of the Olympic flame on Aus­tralia Soil at Uluru,…

Hetty PERKINS

Born 1895, Died 8/12/1979

Also known as: Hetti

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…

Rachel PERKINS

Born 1970

Cir­ca 1991 she became the youngest female Exec­u­tive Pro­duc­er at SBS Television.
In 1995, Rachel won the first Indige­nous Pro­gram Schol­ar­ship to the Aus­tralian Film Tele­vi­sion and…

Catherine PIRIE

2000 — Queens­land’s first Indige­nous and Tor­res Strait Islander judi­cial appointment.

In 1989, Cather­ine Pirie became the first woman of Tor­res Strait Islander descent to…

Polly

Min­nie GILLEN ran the house­hold with the help of two Arrente Abo­rig­i­nal women, … and Pol­ly, who also looked after her two boys.

Beth PRESS

From Yuan­du­ma — Chair of Coun­cil Indige­nous Advi­so­ry Coun­cil — to sug­gest ways to win Indige­nous disadvantage.

Bess Nungarrayi PRICE

Born October 1960

Chair of Coun­cil, Indige­nous Advi­so­ry Coun­cil to sug­gest ways to curb Indige­nous disadvantage.2012 — Nom­i­nat­ed for US Inter­na­tion­al Women of Courage award.

Puni PUNI

1939 — Abo­rig­i­nal teenag­er who ran 80 miles to bring a res­cue team to save a three year old boy (Ramon BROWN) from floods at Shirley Well, South Australia.

May RAGETT

Born 28/12/1955

Wife of a stock­man on Mal­la­pun­yah Springs Sta­tion, bring­ing up her fam­i­ly, send­ing them to the sta­tion school then to Char­ters Tow­ers for fur­ther education.

Ranjika

Died 1918

Ran­ji­ka, a West­ern Arrernte woman, was the moth­er of Glo­ria LEE.

Samantha Linette Pearl RILEY

Born 13/11/1972

Also known as: Sam

World Record hold­er and Gold Medal­list — Swim­ming — 29 Sept 20011996 — No. 1 Breas­troke Cham­pi­on in world.Won Prime Min­is­ter’s ​‘Women In Sport Award’

Daisy Florence RUDDICK

Born 15/08/1915, Died 23/04/2002

Also known as: née Kumachi Cusack

Pio­neer of Dar­win, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. One of Stolen Gen­er­a­tion. Nan­ny to Austin ASCHE. Nurse who worked with Fly­ing Doc­tor, Clive Fen­ton, at Kather­ine, North­ern Territory.

Runge

Amboo­ra, Amelia (Kunoth) and Runge, who worked for the Brad­shaw fam­i­ly at the Tele­graph Sta­tion.… as well as Abo­rig­i­nal house­maids includ­ing Amboo­ra, Runge and Amelia, sup­port­ed Mrs…

Evelyn Ruth SCOTT

Born 1935, Died 21 September 2017

Also known as: née Backo

1991 — First female chair­per­son of the Coun­cil for Abo­rig­i­nal Reconciliation.
2000 — Hon­orary doc­tor­ate award­ed by Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Sydney.

Abo­rig­i­nal rights…

Marion Rose SCRYMGOUR

Born 13 September 1960

First Abo­rig­i­nal woman in North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Labor Party.

First Indige­nous elect­ed to State and Ter­ri­to­ry Par­lia­ment in the North­ern Territory.

Patsy SHADFORTH

North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Pio­neer of Sev­en Emu Station.

Barbara Catherine SHAW

Born 1952

A town camp activist. Briefed her agen­da to the Unit­ed Nations Edu­ca­tion­al, Sci­en­tif­ic and Cul­tur­al Organization.

Gloria SHIPP

1996 — Aus­trali­a’s first Indige­nous woman Angli­can priest, Glo­ria Shipp served St Lukes Koori Com­mu­ni­ty Church in Dub­bo, New South Wales.

Fanny Cochrane SMITH

Born 12/1834, Died 24/02/1905

In 1899 she was the first Indige­nous Aus­tralian to be recorded.
Fan­ny is con­sid­ered to be the last flu­ent speak­er of a Tas­man­ian language.

She is con­sid­ered to be the last…

Gina SMITH

First deputy chair­woman of the Cen­tral Land Council.

She and Rayleen BROWN found­ed Kun­gas Can Cook, Alice Springs, North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, an indige­nous cater­ing com​pa​ny​.Ms SMITH…

Jean SMITH

When Mrs Ida Stan­d­ley was employed as schoolmistress to the chil­dren of Stu­art and matron of The Bun­ga­low, Top­sy became her assis­tant. Two of Top­sy’s chil­dren, Ada and Jean, were…

Topsy SMITH

Born 1875, Died 1960

Top­sy, born about 1875, was the daugh­ter of Mary Kemp, of Ara­bana Abo­rig­i­nal descent, and Arthur Evans, a police­man work­ing in Ood­na­dat­ta. In the ear­ly 1890s, Top­sy mar­ried William…

Beverley SPIERS

Edu­ca­tor in jails, giv­ing Abo­rig­i­nal art and cul­ture class­es and AIDS edu­ca­tion to Abo­rig­i­nal inmates locat­ed in Cess­nock, Mait­land, Bathurst, and Sydney’s Long Bay

Stella

Stel­la was an Allow­era (Allyawarr) woman, Jane Web­b’s trust­ed Allyawarr Abo­rig­i­nal friend, who lived at Mount Rid­dock Sta­tion with the Webb fam­i­ly for eigh­teen years.She helped…

Essie STUART

Born 1904

Also known as: née Simpson

With camel dri­ver hus­band, brought goods from Maree and Ood­na­dat­ta to Alice Springs, North­ern Territory.

Ann SVENNSON-McCOY

First female Tor­res Strait Islander to receive a BSc in Vet­eri­nary Biology.