Pearl Gibbs

Pearl Gibbs (Gambanyi) (1901—28 April 1983) 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 La Perouse, Sydney, in 1901, to Mary Margaret Brown and David Barry. Gibbs 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.

Activism era

In 1930, Gibbs helped run a camp to support unemployed Aboriginal workers, and in 1933 she organised a strike for Aboriginal pea-pickers. She was one of the first members of the APA, and attracted large crowds when she gave speeches in the Domain in Sydney. She began to work with APA president Jack Patten and secretary William Ferguson, and in 1938 she was involved with organising the Day of Mourning protests, which at the time was the most significant Aboriginal civil rights demonstration in Australia. She was a spokesperson for the Committee for Aboriginal Citizen Rights, the lobby group which was set up to carry on the work of the Day of Mourning Congress. Later in 1938 she succeeded Ferguson as secretary of the APA, and she held the position until 1940.