Pearl Gibbs: Aboriginal Rights Activist and Political Leader

Introduction

Pearl Mary (Gambanyi) Gibbs (1901–1983) was one of the major political activists supporting Aboriginal rights in Australia from the 1920s through to the 1970s. The highlights of her work include organizing the key pea-pickers strike in 1933, being involved in organizing the Day of Mourning in 1938, speaking for the Committee for Aboriginal Citizen Rights, calling for Aboriginal representation on the New South Wales board, serving as organizing secretary for the Melbourne-based Council for Aboriginal Rights, establishing the Australian Aboriginal Fellowship in 1956, and being the first and only female member of the NSW Aboriginal Welfare Board in 1954 (Gilbert, 1983; Goodall, 1983; Goodall, 1988; Horner, 1983). This list of accomplishments is only a glimpse of the life of this remarkable political activist and leader. Her activism for the rights of Indigenous peoples was curtailed only by her death in 1983.

Early Life and Formative Experiences

Pearl Gibbs was born Pearl Mary Brown in 1901 at La Perouse, Sydney, Australia. She was the younger of two daughters born to an Aboriginal mother, Mary Margaret Brown, and a white father named David Barry. David Barry was separated from the family, and Gibbs' mother fended for herself (Gilbert, 2005). In 1910, Gibbs' mother married Richard Murray, an Aboriginal man from Brewarrina. After Pearl's birth, her mother had returned to Yass, where Pearl and her sister, Olga, attended the Mount Carmel School run by the Sisters of Mercy. Aboriginal children had been banned from attending public schools in Yass since 1897 (Horner, 1983). Although her skin was fair, Gibbs began to experience racial discrimination early and identified herself as Aboriginal due to her early experiences with the educational system.

By 1910 Gibbs' family had settled close to Bourke. Pearl's mother and stepfather worked on a sheep station near Byrock, and later Pearl and Olga were both employed as maids there. In 1917 the sisters moved to Sydney and took positions as domestic servants — positions that may have been arranged by their parents' employers. Although Gibbs was able to secure steady employment in the wealthy area of Potts Point, she also made the acquaintance of Aboriginal girls who had been removed from their homes against their will and the will of their families, and were indentured — "apprenticed" was the formal term — by the Aborigines Protection Board as domestics (Celermajer, 2005). Pearl was deeply moved by their working conditions and by the stories these young women told of being taken from their homes. Gibbs decided to represent them as an advocate with the board, an early sign of her forthcoming political activism (Gilbert, 2005).

Gibbs' political education continued to grow as she met more young women and girls who had been apprenticed as domestics by the Aborigines Protection Board. Her negotiating and public-speaking skills also improved as she assisted many of these young women in their interactions with the board throughout the 1920s. She also developed a taste for political activism as a result of these interactions (Gilbert, 1983).

Political Awakening and Organizing

In 1923 Pearl married an English-born naval steward, Robert James Gibbs. They eventually had three children: two sons and one daughter. One of Gibbs' sons, Charles Reginald Gibbs, served in the Royal Australian Navy (Gilbert, 2005). In the late 1920s the marriage fell apart, and Gibbs moved to an unemployment camp at Happy Valley to be with her mother and stepfather. This experience made her more acutely aware of the activities of the protection board, as police made efforts to reduce contact between unemployed workers and the nearby reserve community. Gibbs took a job with her parents picking peas in order to be self-sufficient and to remove herself from the board's control. This experience led to her becoming acquainted with Aboriginal people from the Wallaga Lake area (Gilbert, 2005). She became deeply troubled by the treatment of reserve residents and by the Aborigines Protection Board's policies. Gibbs organized protests against many of the board's management decisions, eventually organizing protests by the pea-pickers for better conditions — something virtually unheard of at the time. These experiences also brought her into contact with important figures in the New South Wales Aboriginal networks, such as Jack Beale (Gilbert, 2005).

In 1936 the board's powers were increased to allow the detention and confinement of anyone with Aboriginal heritage, meaning that Gibbs herself was now under their scrutiny. In 1937 Pearl began organizing what would become the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) alongside Bill Ferguson and Jack Patten (Attwood & Magowan, 2001). She traveled to Sydney and began work on the APA. Her duties included collecting information at Brewarrina to assess conditions, to make public the terrible state of the reserves, and to obtain a formal inquiry into the activities of the protection board. Pearl was placed as secretary of the APA and used her position to deliver inspiring public speeches about the rights of women and children of Indigenous descent, and to bring to public attention the poor conditions that women, mothers, and children endured on the reserves (Gilbert, 2005). Ferguson and Patten — the then APA president — believed that Gibbs was the best-prepared APA member to connect with Australian women on matters regarding Aboriginal females, so Gibbs spent several years addressing groups where women comprised the majority of the membership.

References

Attwood, B. (2003). Rights for Aborigines. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Attwood, B., & Magowan, F. (2001). Telling stories: Indigenous history and memory in Australia and New Zealand. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Celermajer, D. (April 22, 2005). The stolen generation: Aboriginal children in Australia — human rights dialogue: "Cultural rights." In Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs. Retrieved November 3, 2012, from

Commonwealth of Australia (2012). Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution: Report of the Expert Panel. Retrieved November 3, 2012 from http://www.youmeunity.org.au/uploads/assets/html-report/index.html

Gilbert, K. (1988). Pearl Gibbs: Aboriginal patriot. Aboriginal History, 7(1), 4–9.

Gilbert, S. (2005). Never forgotten: Pearl Gibbs (Gambanyi). In Cole, A., Haskins, V., & Paisley, F. (Eds.), Uncommon ground: White women and Aboriginal history (pp. 107–126). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Goodall, H. (1983). Pearl Gibbs, some memories. Aboriginal History, 7(1), 20–22.

Goodall, H. (1988). Pearl Gibbs. In Radi, H. (Ed.), 200 Australian women: A Redress anthology (pp. 211–213). Broadway, NSW: Women's Redress Press.

Horner, J. (1983). Pearl Gibbs: A biographical tribute. Aboriginal History, 7(1), 10–12.