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Amboora
Amboora worked for the Bradshaw family at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station as a housemaid.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Linda Jean BURNEY
Born 25 April 1957
2003 — First Aboriginal Australian to be voted into the 147 year old NSW Parliament — Member for Canterbury
(Hon.Ded, Dip Ed, M.P.) -
Sadie CANNING
One of the first trained Aboriginal nurses and matrons in Western Australia, did not start qualifying until the 1950s.
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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…
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Evonne Fay CAWLEY
Born 31/07/1951
Also known as: née Goolagong
First Aboriginal Australian to win the prestigious Wimbledon tennis singles title (1971)
Tennis — Australian Open — won 4 times. French Open — won 1. Wimbledon — won 1971… -
Debra CHEETHAM
Born 24/11/1964
Australia’s first female Indigenous opera singer; in 2007, wrote “Pecan Summer,” Australia’s first Indigenous opera, then trained the necessary Indigenous singers;…
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Dido COOPER
Born 1897
When Adelaide House was opened in 1926, it was run by nurses … with the help of Aboriginal women like Dido Cooper.
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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.
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Dolly
Minnie GILLEN ran the household with the help of two Arrente Aboriginal women, Dolly (Aritcheuka) …, who also looked after her two boys.
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Sandra EADES
2004 — Awarded Doctorate of Philosophy, University of WA
University of Newcastle’s first Aboriginal medical graduate -
Josey FARRER
1989 — First indigenous woman to head a local government council
Always promoted indigenous culture and advocate for indigenous issues -
Catherine Astrid Salome FREEMAN
Born 16/2/1973
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…
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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,…
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Kathryn Isobel HAY
Born 24 November 1975
2002 — First Indigenous woman elected to State and Territory Parliaments.
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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.
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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… -
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Rosalie Lynette KUNOTH-MONKS, OA
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 31/10/1951
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…
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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…
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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… -
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Lorraine LIDDLE
Born 1956
1986 — The Northern Territory’s first Aboriginal lawyer, travelling between communities as a Bush Lawyer in Cental Australia.
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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 13/10/1957
Also known as: née Pilkington
2001 — First Indigenous woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament.
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Andrea 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… -
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 25/03/1974
Also known as: Lulla, Alice Mary Linklater
Part Aboriginal woman who lived as a family member with Lovegrove, Fawcett, Easton, and Fitzer families.
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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…
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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.…
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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 8th Telstra National Aboriginal… -
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Nova Maree PERIS
Born 25/02/1971
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.
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Beth PRESS
From Yuanduma — Chair of Council Indigenous Advisory Council — to suggest ways to win Indigenous disadvantage.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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’
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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.
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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…
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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 13/09/1960
First Aboriginal woman in Northern Territory Labor Party.
First Indigenous elected to State and Territory Parliament in the Northern Territory. -
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Barbara Catherine SHAW
Born 1952
A town camp activist. Briefed her agenda to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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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 company.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…
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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
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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…
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Essie STUART
Born 1904
Also known as: née Simpson
With camel driver husband, brought goods from Maree and Oodnadatta to Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
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Sandy TAYLOR
Alice Springs first Aboriginal female Alderman.
Daughter of HerStory Archive entry Emmie WEHR. -
Faith THOMAS
Born 22/01/1933
Also known as: née Coulthard, Faith Thomas
Played hockey as well as cricket.
1958 — First Aboriginal female Test cricketer to represent Australia in England.
Awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, services to… -
Jennifer THOMPSON
Born 1951
Aboriginal health worker, Alice Springs Hospital, Northern Territory.
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Ruby TILMOUTH
Born 11/1915, Died 09/2005
Also known as: née Schaber
Pioneer and Activist of Central Australia.1950s — Led and organized a protest march against a racist curfew in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
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Lalla TRUGERNANNER
Born 1812, Died 8/5/1876
Also known as: Truganini, Trucanini, Trucaninny, Lalla Rooke
One of the foremost Tasmanian Aboriginal leaders of the 1800s, negotiator and spokesperson for her people.
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Bessie TURNER
Born 1897, Died 14 December 1988
Also known as: née Ah Sam, previously Ning and Trindle, Nanna Bessie
With her husband, drove cattle from Western Australia and the Northern Territory along the Muranji Track and across the Barkly Tablelands to Mt Isa and Dajarra; revered by many on the…
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Kemarre Margaret Mary TURNER
Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) Councillor.
National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week Aboriginal of the Year.
1997 -… -
Patricia Ann TURNER
Born 23/09/1952
Also known as: Pat
First Aboriginal woman to head a government department in Canberra.
Top Commonwealth Indigenous public servant.Chief Executive Officer of National News Service (National… -
Janet TURPIE-JOHNSTONE
2002 — Janet Turpie-Johnstone became Vicar of Heathmont, the Melbourne Diocese’s first Aboriginal Parish Priest.
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Margaret VALADIAN
Born 3 September 1936
Also known as: Dr Margaret Valadian
1966 — First Aboriginal to graduate from University of Queensland (Bachelor of Social Sciences).
First Woman and first Australian President of the East-West Centre Student Association… -
Ada Mary WADE
Born 1909
Also known as: née Smith (formerly Pick)
One of first babies baptised at Alice Springs Catholic Church
Pioneer of Arltunga, Tennant creek, Hatches Creek and Alice Springs. Attended school behind old Courthouse.When… -
Gwen WALLEY
First interstate Aboriginal health worker to get Northern Territory registration.
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Tjunmutja Myra WATSON
Born 27/09/1927, Died 3/01/2009
Learned to read and write at United Aborigines Mission School at Ooldea, South Australia. After marriage, spent next 27 years at Gerard Mission in the Riverlands. Thirty years at…
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Emmie WEHR
Born 1938
Well-respected horse trainer based in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, with many wins to her name. Renowned as a skilled station hand in her early days on New Crown Station where…
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Elsie WOODS-HAYES
Born 1918, Died February 2008
One of the original residents of the “cottages” in the Gap area of Alice Springs.
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Virginia WYKES
Born 1949
1982 — Believed to be the first Aboriginal woman to gain her Private Pilot’s Licence (Cessna 150)
2001 — Only Aboriginal entrant to compete in Centenary of Federation London to…
