Treatment of Aborigines: Address to Housewives

Prominent Aboriginal activist

Pearl Gibbs was an Australian activist who fought for the rights of Australian Aboriginal people for some 50 years. Pearl Brown was born from Aboriginal and white descent, experiencing racial discrimination as a child and attended segregated Aboriginal schools. In 1928, Gibbs helped organise the first Day of Mourning to protest against the injustices of European colonisation. In 1937 Gibbs joined fellow activists in the Aborigines Progressive Association. She became a public speaker on issues important to women and children and wrote articles for newspapers. Gibbs brought the plight of Aboriginal people to a larger audience in 1941 when she became the first Aboriginal woman to speak on Australian radio. In 1954 Gibbs became the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Aborigines Welfare Board, meanwhile founding the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship to end discriminatory practices against Aboriginal people. Gibbs continued to attend conferences and to advocate for the rights of Aboriginal people into her 70s.