Everything about Fay Gale totally explained
Fay Gale AO (
13 June 1932 -
3 May 2008) was an
Australian cultural geographer and an emeritus professor.
She was born Gwendoline Fay Gilding in
Balaklava, South Australia to Jasper and Kathleen Gilding. Her father was the local Methodist Minister. Professor Gale was the first Honours Geography graduate of the University of Adelaide. Professor Gale is notable for many academic works including the first ever PHD to focus on Part Aborigines and address issues of assimilation. Her thesis
A study of assimilation: Part Aborigines in South Australia was published in Adelaide in 1960 and republished in 1964 after becoming widely set as an anthroplogy text. in numerous universities. She is widely revered for her contributions to academia and the role of women in academia.
In 1989 she was awarded the
Order of Australia for her services to Social Science, particularly in the fields of Geography and Aboriginal Studies.
Key appointments in the last ten years include:
Professor Gale was greatly influenced by her relationship with her foster-sister Edna Walker, a member of the
Stolen Generation and was an early speaker and activist for change in the treatment of Aboriginals.
When she married Milton Gale in 1957 her two bridesmaids were Aboriginal women, Gladys Long and Linda Vale.
Her early research activity amongst Aboriginal communities represents in many cases the only written records of some people. The research was part of a body of work relied upon by
Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission in making its determination. This led to criticism by others of the veracity of the material. Rod Lucas discusses this treatment in 'The Failure of Anthropology'
During her time at
The University of Western Australia Fay Gale was instrumental in developing significant advances in gender equity.She was also involved in considerable controversy in 1992 over activities in the Anthropology Department that became known in the press as the "Rindos Affair" and ultimately made what The Times called "state history" by leading to a Parliamentary Enquiry. As the University's first female Vice Chancellor, who was also single, Professor Gale was the subject of considerable interest and the elements of the case involving academic rivalry and sexual exploits captured the imagination of the press with well over 100 news items being published. The background controversy was concerned with preferential homosexual and lesbian engagement between staff and selected students; and more generally over the disruption to their studies caused by radical changes wrought by the then Hawke Labor Government. Professor Gale received both support and criticism from the academic staff.
The University of Western Australia offers a fellowship for academics wishing to study overseas in her name - Fay Gale Fellowships.
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has instituted (2008) The Fay Gale Annual Lecture which provides for a public lecture honouring a distinguished woman social scientist from among the Academy Fellows.
In 1972 Professor Gale was a visiting lecturer in the Geography School at
Oxford University having been awarded the Catherine Helen Spence Scholarship to travel overseas. In 1978 she was a Visiting Professor at the
University of Washington.
In 1991 Professor Gale teamed with Ian Lowe to give that year's
Boyer Lectures entitled "Changing Australia (changes through technology)"
Professor Gale is a notable achiever of firsts for female academics including;
Sole woman professor, The University of Adelaide, for almost a decade
First woman Pro-Vice-Chancellor, The University of Adelaide.
Vice-Chancellor, the University of Western Australia. This was the first appointment of a woman in WA and the second in Australia, but it was the first to a “sandstone’ or ‘group of 8’ university (Australian equivalent of Ivy League)
First woman elected President of the Institute of Australian Geographers
First woman elected President of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee
First woman elected President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
First woman chair of the Festival of Perth Board
First woman elected to the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities
First woman elected President of the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils
First woman elected Patron of the Association of Tertiary Education Management, Australia and New Zealand
Professor Gale considered Dame Roma Mitchell one of her key mentors.
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