Sistas in the Struggle

About the Author

Linda Coe, a Wiradjuri woman from Erambie Mission, was active in the Black Movement through the Aboriginal Embassy, community-controlled organisations and Aboriginal women's basketball, later working for over thirty years as an Aboriginal Education Officer in New South Wales.

Aileen Louisa Corpus, a Yawuru, Filipino, Irish, Nanggumiri/Wagiman and Mudburra/Gurindji woman, was active in the 1970s Black Movement through the Aboriginal Medical Service, Murawina and National Black Theatre before building a career in public relations, journalism, cross-cultural training and Aboriginal rights advocacy. She is also a poet, actor and visual artist.

Alanna Doolan, a Wakka Wakka, Yeeman and Tagalaka woman born on Palm Island, became the first secretary of the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1970, Sydney. She helped establish multiple significant Aboriginal activist and arts organisations. She participated in the Aboriginal Embassy, and has had a lifelong involvement in Aboriginal land rights and international Indigenous advocacy.

Dulcie Flower AM, a Meriam nurse from Cairns, became active in Aboriginal rights and health advocacy through the Aborigines Progressive Association, FCAATSI, and as a founding member of the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, later contributing widely to Indigenous health policy, education, governance and international forums, and receiving major honours including an Order of Australia and a NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sandra McGinness, a Kungarakan and Torres Strait Islander woman, became active in Black Movement initiatives and protest actions, including the Aboriginal Medical Service and Aboriginal Embassy, after growing up in a prominent activist family, later working with Aboriginal organisations in housing, youth, arts, women's services and land rights advocacy.

Dr Bronwyn Penrith, a Wiradjuri and Yuin woman from Brungle Mission, became a key Redfern Black Movement activist from 1968, contributing to the development of Aboriginal community-controlled services, the Aboriginal Medical Service and the Aboriginal Embassy, and later held leadership roles in Indigenous justice, women's organisations, advisory bodies and mediation, receiving an honorary doctorate in 2026.

Cilla Pryor, a Kunggandji and Juru woman, served in the Air Force before joining Redfern's Aboriginal community-controlled movement in the early 1970s, where she participated in the Aboriginal Embassy protests and worked with the Aboriginal Legal Service, later returning to Townsville to help establish 4K1G radio and support land rights campaigns.

Ann Weldon AM, a Wiradjuri woman from Erambie Mission, was a founding figure in Sydney's Aboriginal community-controlled services, serving as the first female CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service. Weldon established Aboriginal women's sport and childcare organisations, and held multiple leadership roles in land, housing and representative bodies. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2025.

Dr Beth Muldoon is a non-Aboriginal historian and teacher living on unceded Wurundjeri Country whose work focuses on grassroots Aboriginal self-determination struggles and developing anti-colonial research methodologies.