Gladys Elphick, known as Gladys Hughes and Auntie Glad, was an Australian Aboriginal woman of Kaurna and Ngadjuri descent, best known as the founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, which became the Aboriginal Council of South Australia in 1973.
12 Facts About Gladys Elphick
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Gladys Elphick was descended from their son Tim, and was related to the family of Vince Copley on his mother's side, who was descended from his brother Tom.
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Gladys Elphick then worked at the Islington Railway Workshops in Adelaide's northern suburbs during World War II creating shells and other munitions.
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Gladys Elphick joined the Aborigines Advancement League of South Australia in the 1940s and became active in committee work with the League in the 1960s.
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Lowitja O'Donoghue reported that she and others, including Gladys Elphick, joined the new group because they felt the need for an all-Aboriginal group, but without any ill-feeling towards the League or founding president Charles Duguid.
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In 1966, after Gladys Elphick clashed with Laurie Bryan, and others became disillusioned with the APA, she and a group of Aboriginal women broke away and formed the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia.
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Gladys Elphick helped to establish the College of Aboriginal Education in 1973, and co-founded the Aboriginal Medical Service of South Australia in 1977.
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Gladys Elphick was known to the community as Auntie Glad.
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Gladys Elphick was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 in recognition of service to the Aboriginal community.
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Gladys Elphick was named South Australian Aborigine of the Year in 1984, during National Aborigines Week.
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Gladys Elphick Awards were established in 2003, with the following aims:.
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Gladys Elphick married Walter Hughes, a shearer, in 1922, who died in 1937.