Pearce, Betty

At the age of 15, Betty Pearce became Secretary of the first Aboriginal organisation established in Darwin. By 1962 she was active in the land rights movement, and later became the first Aboriginal person in the Australian Labor Party, serving on the National Aboriginal Policy Committee that first conceived the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

In 1982 Pearce worked with the Central Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs and helped establish a child care agency in Central Australia in 1985. She also participated in the establishment of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Betty Pearce currently works for Territory Health in Alcohol and other Drug Services.

See also

• Briskman, Linda, The Black Grapevine: Aboriginal Activism and the Stolen Generations, The Federation, Annandale, NSW, 2003, 213 pp. [ Details... ]