Gladys Elphick (27 August 1904 – 19 January 1988) was an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

woman of

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

and

Ngadjuri The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north. Name Their ethnon ...

descent, best known as the founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, which became the Aboriginal Council of South Australia in 1973. She was known to the community as Auntie Glad.

Early life

Gladys Elphick was born Gladys Walters in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, but was raised at the

Point Pearce Point Pearce, also spelt Point Pierce in the past, is a town in the Australian state of South Australia. The town is located in the Yorke Peninsula Council local government area, north-west of the state capital, Adelaide. At the , Point Pearce h ...

Mission on the

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strai ...

. On leaving school at age twelve, she worked in Point Pearce's dairy. Elphick married Walter Hughes, a

shearer A shearer is someone who shears, such as a cloth shearer, or a sheep shearer. Origins of the name include from near Bergen in Norway 1600s weden of that periodas ''Skea'' (pronounced "Skeg" meaning "beard") and Heddle (meaning market place) as mig ...

, in 1922. After her husband's death in 1937, Elphick moved to Adelaide, lived with her cousin Gladys O'Brien, and worked as a domestic. Elphick worked at the

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

creating shells and other munitions. She married Frederick Elphick in 1940.

Community work

Elphick joined the Aborigines Advancement League of South Australia in the 1940s and became active in committee work with the League in the 1960s. In 1964, Elphick became the founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, a role she served until 1973. The Council was active in campaigning for the

1967 Referendum The 1967 Australian referendum occurred on 27 May 1967 under the Holt Government. It contained three topics asked about in two questions, regarding the passage of two bills to alter the Australian Constitution. The first question (''Constitution ...

. The Council became the Aboriginal Council of South Australia in 1973, and from then included men in its remit and governance. Also in 1973, Elphick was involved in setting up the Aboriginal Community Centre, and served as its treasurer, and helped establish the College of Aboriginal Education in 1973. She co-founded the Aboriginal Medical Service of South Australia in 1977.

Awards, honours and legacy

Elphick was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in 1971 in recognition of service to the Aboriginal community. She was named South Australian Aborigine of the Year in 1984, during National Aborigines Week. A plaque honouring Elphick and her work for the community is part of the

Jubilee 150 Walkway The Jubilee 150 Walkway, also variously known as the Jubilee 150 Commemorative Walk, the Jubilee 150 Walk, Jubilee 150 Plaques, the Jubilee Walk, or simply J150, is a series of (initially) 150 bronze plaques set into the pavement of Nort ...

, a series of 150 bronze plaques set into the footpath of

North Terrace, Adelaide North Terrace is one of the four terraces that bound the central business and residential district of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It runs east–west, along the northern edge of "the square mile". The western end cont ...

commemorating "a selection of people who had made a significant contribution to the community or gained national and international recognition for their work". An award has been named in her honour by the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

Committee (South Australia). Presented since 2003, it is a Community Spirit Award Acknowledging Outstanding Aboriginal Women. Known as the Gladys Elphick Award, it is awarded to recognise Aboriginal women working to advance the status of Indigenous people. One of the parks in the western parklands of Adelaide has been named Gladys Elphick Park in her honour. A

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

released on 27 August 2019 was dedicated to her. The first Gladys Elphick Memorial Oration is scheduled to be given on 17 July 2021 by journalist Stan Grant as a

keynote address A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework f ...

of the

Adelaide Festival of Ideas The Adelaide Festival of Ideas (AFOI) is a festival held in Adelaide, South Australia since 1999, usually biennially. It aims to foster the public promulgation, discussion and critique of culturally and socially relevant ideas from around the wo ...

, in collaboration with the

History Trust of South Australia The History Trust of South Australia, sometimes referred to as History SA, was created as a statutory corporation by the ''History Trust of South Australia Act 1981'', to safeguard South Australia’s heritage and to encourage research and publi ...

and Reconciliation SA. The title of the inaugural address is "Flagging Intentions", referring to the Aboriginal flag.

References

External links

Gladys Elphick MBE
in ''S.A.'s Greats: the men and women of the North Terrace plaques'', via Adelaidia {{DEFAULTSORT:Elphick, Gladys 1904 births 1988 deaths People from Adelaide Australian indigenous rights activists Women human rights activists Indigenous Australian welfare workers Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian women Kaurna