June Patricia "Pat" Eatock (14 December 1937 – 17 March 2015) was an Australian indigenous activist and academic.

Early years

She was born in Redcliffe to Roderick Eatock, of Aboriginal and English descent, and Scottish migrant Elizabeth Stephenson Anderson. Having left school at the age of fourteen, she moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

at eighteen and married her cousin, Ron Eatock, with whom she had six children.

Career and activism

In 1972 she attended a land rights conference in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

, after which she left her husband and moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. With her baby, Eatock joined the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra and participated in the protests against its removal. In 1972 she was the first indigenous woman to stand for federal parliament, running unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for Australian Capital Territory. She was the first non-matriculated mature-aged student to study at the Australian National University in 1973, and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1975 Eatock attended the ''Alternative Tribune to the International Women's Year World Conference'' in Mexico City. From 1978 to 1981 she was a project officer in the Aboriginal Unit of the Department of Social Security, and she was also a lecturer at

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

(1991–92, community development) and

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

(1997, Aboriginal studies). From 1992 to 1996 she established and managed Perleeka Aboriginal Television. In 2011, Eatock was the lead litigant in a case against conservative columnist Andrew Bolt, in which she and others sued Bolt under the

Racial Discrimination Act The ''Racial Discrimination Act 1975'' (Cth). is an Act of the Australian Parliament, which was enacted on 11 June 1975 and passed by the Whitlam government. The Act makes racial discrimination in certain contexts unlawful in Australia, and als ...

(RDA) following a column alleging that fair-skinned indigenous Australians identified as Aboriginals for monetary gain. The court found for Eatock against Bolt, leading to widespread controversy and a campaign to amend the RDA. Following an incident in 2012 Eatock became known as the “holder of the shoe” after then-Prime Minister

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

lost her shoe during a protest at the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

Personal life

Eatock died in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eatock, Pat 1937 births 2015 deaths Australian indigenous rights activists Women human rights activists