Gladys Dorothy O’Shane (22 September 1919 - 29 December 1965) was an Australian

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

activist, the sixth child of parents Caroline, née Brown, and Edgar Davis, a labourer, at

Mossman, Queensland Mossman is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre for the Douglas Shire Council In the , the locality of Mossman had a population of 1,937 people. Geography Mossman in Far N ...

Early life

O'Shane attended primary school and later worked as a domestic servant at Mossman Hospital laundry, and lived with her family at

Yarrabah Yarrabah (traditionally ''Yagaljida'' in the Yidin language spoken by the indigenous Yidinji people is a coastal town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Yarrabah, Queensland, Australia. In the , the local ...

Mission,

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Queensland, Australia. O'Shane married Patrick James O’Shane, a 27-year-old militant

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

, wharf labourer, and cane cutter on 26 October 1940 at the

Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

Tabernacle, Cairns, and moved to Mossman. O'Shane had two daughters and three sons. Her eldest daughter

Pat O'Shane Patricia June O'Shane (born 19 June 1941) is a retired Australian teacher, barrister, public servant, jurist, and Aboriginal activist. She was Australia's first Aboriginal magistrate, serving the Local Court in Sydney, New South Wales, Austral ...

was the first Aboriginal Magistrate in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and Chancellor of the University of New England. Terry, Margaret, Daniel, and Timothy, the children of O'Shane, also contributed to Aboriginal Communities.

Honours and Organisations

O'Shane was the inaugural president of the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Advancement League (CATSIAL) and addressed the strike meetings of the

Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered ...

as a member of its Women Auxiliary wing. In 1959, O'Shane and her eldest daughter, Pat, became members of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

. In 1964, O'Shane was an elected committee member of the North Queensland Committee of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA). O'Shane was noted as a "leader in Aboriginal advancement" at the 1966 Annual conference of the

Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), founded in Adelaide, South Australia, as the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA) on 16 February 1958, was a civil rights organisation whic ...

. O'Shane suffered from

renal disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can b ...

, and died of

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

on 29 December 1965 at Base Hospital, Cairns. She was buried in Martyn Street Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OShane, Gladys Dorothy Australian activists 20th-century Australian women 1919 births 1965 deaths Communist Party of Australia members