Cultural Advice: This document includes the names of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who have died.
Pearl Gibbs
Aunty Pearl Mary (Gambanyi) Gibbs (1901-1983) was a leader and activist for Aboriginal rights and the rights of women. Throughout her life she contributed to several impactful social justice campaigns including the 1967 referendum, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and the Aboriginal Day of Mourning. She is remembered as a trailblazer for her life in the political sphere and efforts to fight against racism and inequality during her lifetime.
Early Life
Gibbs was born in 1901 to Margaret Brown, a Ngemba woman, and David Barry, a white man. At the time, her birth certificate was destroyed, leaving contention about her actual place of birth as either La Perouse, as stated by Horner (1983) in his obituary or Brewarrina, stated by the Aboriginal communities of both Dubbo and La Perouse (Riley et al., 2018). As a child, exclusionist school policies meant she and her sister could not attend the local public school in Yass, leading them to attend the Mount Carmel Convent School with the other Aboriginal children (Gilbert, 2005). At 16, she and her older sister Olga …show more content…
After this, she helped to form the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship which worked to reduce restrictions on civil rights during the assimilation period. It also launched a petition calling for citizenship rights. Over 10 years in collaboration with Lady Jessie Street and other prominent feminist figures sought to gain public support for a referendum that would give Aboriginal peoples citizenship. Gibbs was praised for her networking skills and ability to encourage women activists to support the referendum in the decade leading up to its success (Laing & Davies,
Pearl Gibbs
Aunty Pearl Mary (Gambanyi) Gibbs (1901-1983) was a leader and activist for Aboriginal rights and the rights of women. Throughout her life she contributed to several impactful social justice campaigns including the 1967 referendum, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and the Aboriginal Day of Mourning. She is remembered as a trailblazer for her life in the political sphere and efforts to fight against racism and inequality during her lifetime.
Early Life
Gibbs was born in 1901 to Margaret Brown, a Ngemba woman, and David Barry, a white man. At the time, her birth certificate was destroyed, leaving contention about her actual place of birth as either La Perouse, as stated by Horner (1983) in his obituary or Brewarrina, stated by the Aboriginal communities of both Dubbo and La Perouse (Riley et al., 2018). As a child, exclusionist school policies meant she and her sister could not attend the local public school in Yass, leading them to attend the Mount Carmel Convent School with the other Aboriginal children (Gilbert, 2005). At 16, she and her older sister Olga …show more content…
After this, she helped to form the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship which worked to reduce restrictions on civil rights during the assimilation period. It also launched a petition calling for citizenship rights. Over 10 years in collaboration with Lady Jessie Street and other prominent feminist figures sought to gain public support for a referendum that would give Aboriginal peoples citizenship. Gibbs was praised for her networking skills and ability to encourage women activists to support the referendum in the decade leading up to its success (Laing & Davies,