Alma Thorpe
Alma Thorpe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alma Beryl Brown Aboriginal elder and activist |
| Known for | co-founded the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service |
Alma Beryl Thorpe (born 1935), also known as Aunty Alma Thorpe, is an Australian
Early life and education
Thorpe was born in
Thorpe left school at the age of 12 and worked in a
In the 1960s Thorpe separated from her husband and returned to Melbourne, along with her children, and began work as a
Achievements
Inspired by her mother, Edna, Thorpe joined community leaders such as Geraldine Briggs and Margaret Tucker in protests for Aboriginal rights.[2] In 1972 she was involved in setting up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.[4]
In 1973, together with her mother[3] and co-founder Bruce McGuinness,[2] she helped to establish the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) to help the Aboriginal community with their health and wellbeing.[5] Through her communist connections, she had been able to enter China and observe the 'barefoot doctors' program; from this experience came her concept of the Aboriginal Health Worker.[1] According to McGuinness, "Without Alma Thorpe there wouldn't have been a health service".[2]
Thorpe also set up the Yappera Children's Service to provide child care, and in 1977, a youth club and gym, later renamed Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation (MAYSAR).[5][2]
Current positions
As of 2019[update] she is
Recognition
For all of her hard work in the
Personal life and family
Thorpe had seven children with her husband, and later fostered two more on her own.[2]
Her daughter Marjorie Thorpe was a commissioner on the
Marjorie's daughter Lidia Thorpe became the first Indigenous woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria in 2018, and the first Victorian Aboriginal Senator in 2020.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Onus, Meriki (6 May 2021). ""I want to be known as a Gundijtmara activist"". IndigenousX. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Victorian Government. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Victorian Government. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ a b c Latimore, Jack (23 April 2022). "'Shouty, uninformed, ineffective': How Senator Lidia Thorpe annoys the establishment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d "2011 Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll - Alma Thorpe". State Government of Victoria. 2012. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ New Greens MP Lidia Thorpe's long road from Nowa Nowa to Northcote, The Age, 19 November 2017.
External links
- "Alma Thorpe". Her Place Women's Museum.
- Croom, Alannah (18 September 2018). "Thorpe, Alma". The Australian Women's Register.
