Pearl Gibbs
Pearl Gibbs | |
---|---|
Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia | |
Other names | Pearl Mary Gibbs (married name) |
Occupations |
|
Organization | Aborigines Welfare Board (1954 - 1957)[2] |
Spouse | Robert James Gibbs (m. 1923 Sep. ?) |
Awards | Victorian Honour Roll of Women |
Pearl Mary "Gambanyi" Gibbs (née Brown) (18 July 1901 – 28 April 1983) was an
Early life
Gibbs was born Pearl Mary Brown on 18 July 1901 in
In 1917, Gibbs and her sister moved to Sydney to work as
She married Robert James Gibbs, in April 1923, a British sailor, with whom she had a daughter and two sons; however, they later separated, and Gibbs cared for the children on her own.[6][7]
Activism
In the 1930s, Gibbs helped run a camp to support unemployed Aboriginal workers.[
In 1941, Gibbs made the first
Gibbs spent much of her adult life in Dubbo. In 1946, she and Ferguson established a branch of the Australian Aborigines' League in Dubbo, and she was the vice-president and later secretary of the branch throughout the 1940s and 1950s.[11] Later, in 1960, Gibbs set up a hostel to care for the families of Aboriginal hospital patients in Dubbo. From 1954 to 1957, Gibbs was the only Aboriginal member of the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board,[12] and she was the only woman to ever serve on the board. In 1956 she was a co-founder, along with Faith Bandler, of the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship (AAF), which was a mainly urban organisation designed to facilitate cooperation between Aboriginal political groups and white people sympathetic to the cause. Gibbs was able to use the AAF to develop connections with the trade union movement in New South Wales.[13]
Gibbs continued to be politically active throughout the 1970s, including supporting the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. She forged important links between the Aboriginal movement and other progressive political groups, notably the women's movement.[3]
Gibbs died in Dubbo in 1983, aged 81.[1]
Recognition
Gibbs was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[14]
On 18 July 2021, Google honoured her 120th birthday with a Google Doodle.[15]
In November 2023, it was announced that Gibbs was one of eight women chosen to be commemorated in the second round of blue plaques sponsored by the Government of New South Wales alongside, among others, Kathleen Butler, godmother of Sydney Harbour Bridge; Emma Jane Callaghan, an Aboriginal midwife and activist; Susan Katherina Schardt; journalist Dorothy Drain; writer Charmian Clift; and charity worker Grace Emily Munro.[16][17]
References
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
- ^ "Betty is not a criminal". Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954). 22 October 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- ^ a b Kovacic, Leonarda (12 September 2017). "Gibbs, Pearl Mary (1901-1983)". Australian Women's Register.
- ^ Thompson, George; Markham, Colin. "Tribute to Pearl Gibbs". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85575-485-3
- ^ Horner 1983, pp. 10-12.
- JSTOR j.ctt13wwvj5.6, retrieved 1 March 2021
- ^ Kleinert, Sylvia (2011). "Bill Onus". Design & Art Australia Online. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
- ^ Pearl Gibbs'Radio Broadcast' (transcript) in Nicholas Jose (general editor) The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest NSW, 2009.
- ^ "ASIO file on Pearl Gibbs at the National Archives of Australia". Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
- ^ "Aboriginal Rights". Western Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 20 March 1953. p. 8. Retrieved 20 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Aboriginal woman elected to board". The Land. No. 2237. New South Wales, Australia. 20 August 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 20 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Horner 1983, pp. 16-18.
- ^ "Victorian Honour Roll of Women List of Inductees 2001-2011" (PDF).
- ^ "Pearl Gibbs "Gambanyi's" 120th Birthday". Google. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Power, Julie (19 November 2023). "The 'clever girl' who helped build the Harbour Bridge". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ Plaques, Blue (20 November 2023). "New round of Blue Plaques recognises the stories of NSW". Blue Plaques. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
Further reading
- "Gibbs, Pearl Mary". The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.
- Gilbert, Kevin, "Pearl Gibbs: Aboriginal Patriot", Aboriginal History, vol. 7, no. 1, 1983, pp. 4–9.
- Goodall, Heather. "Pearl Gibbs: Some Memories", Aboriginal History, vol 7, no 1, 1983, p 20.
- Goodall, Heather, "Pearl Gibbs", in Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress anthology, Women's Redress Press, Broadway, N.S.W., [1988], pp. 211–213.
- Horner, Jack, "Pearl Gibbs: A Biographical Tribute", Aboriginal History, vol. 7, no. 1, 1983, pp. 10–12.
- Standfield, Rachel; Peckham, Ray; Nolan, John (2014). "3. Aunty Pearl Gibbs: Leading for Aboriginal Rights". In Damousi Joy; Rubenstein Kim; Tomsic Mary (eds.). In Diversity in Leadership: Australian Women, past and Present. JSTOR j.ctt13wwvj5.6. – via JSTOR.