Gwendolyne Daphne Stevens born Gwendolyne Daphne Healey (7 June 1908 – 3 March 1974) was an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n hospital proprietor, sheep breeder and mining entrepreneur. She established several successful businesses culminating in the discovery that led to the creation of the

Nabarlek Uranium Mine The Nabarlek Mine is a uranium mine in the Northern Territory of Australia which was productively worked only in 1979. The deposit sits within the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field approximately northeast of Jabiru. It was discovered by Queensland ...

in the Northern Territory.

Life

Stevens was born in the town of Quorn in Australia in 1908. Her parents were also both born in South Australia. Her mother was Jessie Gwendolyne (born Napier) and her father was Hugo Albert Valentine Healey. She was educated at

St Peter's Girls' School St Peter's Girls' School (commonly known as Saints Girls) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day school for girls located in the Adelaide suburb of Stonyfell, in South Australia, Australia. Founded in 1894 and ...

and she first trained as a nurse at the Adelaide Hospital qualifying in 1929 and as a psychiatric nurse at Parkside Mental Hospital in 1931 and she soon becoming sister-in-charge. In 1934 she opened a private psychiatric hospital in Darrach House. The large house had been built for James Waddell Marshall who ran the department store. She ran this hospital for eighteen years. In 1940 she married George Dempster Stevens and they had two children. She sold her hospital in 1952 and bought a farm. Her farm was a stud for sheep and it was called Sterling Downs. She took an interest each week, but a manager saw to its day to day running. She moved the stud to Sterling Park and that is where she discovered that the land was a source of sand. She made money selling the sand to the local council. With her new interest in mining she investigated the potential around

Oenpelli Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...

(now Gunbalanya) in the Northern Territory. She had the rights to over 1250 sq. miles and she named the area "

nabarlek Nabarleks (''Petrogale concinna''), are a tiny species of macropod found in northern Australia. They are a shy and nocturnal animal that resides in rocky hollows and forages in the surrounding area. Their diet is grasses, sedges, and ferns foun ...

" after the local nocturnal little rock-wallaby. She partnered with Queensland Mines Ltd in the venture. Uranium was discovered in 1970 and in 1973 she sold out in return for a royalty from the

. She had intended to share the wealth with the aboriginal people who had lived on the land, but she died in 1974 in the Adelaide suburb of Kensington Park from a brain haemorrhage.

References

External links

Biography at ADB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Gwendolyne Daphne 1908 births 1974 deaths People from Quorn, South Australia Australian businesspeople Australian nurses Australian miners