Women History Month: Pearl Gibbs

Gambanyi (Pearl Gibbs) 1901—28 April 1983

Gambanyi (Pearl Gibbs) was an Indigenous Australian activist, and the most prominent female activist within the Aboriginal movement in the early 20th century. She was a member of the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), and was involved with various protest events such as the 1938 Day of Mourning.

Gibbs was born Pearl Mary Brown in 1901 at La Perouse, Sydney, to Mary
Margaret Brown and David Barry.  She grew
up in and around the town of Yass, where she attended Mount Carmel School along with
her sister Olga.

Later she married a British sailor, with whom she had a daughter and two sons; however, they later
separated, and Gibbs cared for the children on her own.

 You can access Pearl Gibbs’ Papers mainly concerning Aboriginal issues 1937-1983 at the State Library of New South Wales. To find out more about this collection, click here

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Gibbs)

Picture from The Koori History Website