Mabel Edmund

As a girl, Mabel leaves her small town for domestic work on a sheep property. There she eventually meets and marries Digger. He returns with her to his coastal Queensland home, a close knit South Sea Islander community. Life changes direction when Mabel Edmund makes history in 1970 as the first Aboriginal woman elected to local government. In 1974, she takes her first aeroplane flight - travelling to Canberra as a founding Aboriginal Commissioner. Later her interest in nature leads to a career as an artist, with galleries across the country acquiring her paintings. Her memoir, No Regrets, was highly commended in the David Unaipon Award for emerging Indigenous authors, and was published by UQP in 1992. Awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal 2003 for service to Australian society and literature.