Fay Gale

Fay Gale AO (13 June 1932 – 3 May 2008) was an Australian cultural geographer and an emeritus professor. She was a passionate advocate of equal opportunity for women and Aboriginal people.

Background

She was born Gwendoline Fay Gilding in Balaklava, South Australia to Jasper and Kathleen Gilding. Her father was a Methodist minister. Professor Gale was the first honours graduate in geography of the University of Adelaide.[1] 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 anthropology text.[2] in numerous universities.[3] She is widely revered for her contributions to academia and the role of women in academia.[4]

In 1989, she was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to Social Science, particularly in the fields of Geography and Aboriginal Studies. In 1978, she became the first woman to be appointed as Professor at the University of Adelaide, in Geography. In 1988, she became Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Adelaide and, in 1990, Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia. In 1997, she was appointed President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the first woman to hold that position.

Professor Gale was greatly influenced by her relationship with her foster-sister Edna Walker, a member of the Stolen Generation[5] and was an early speaker and activist for change in the treatment of Aboriginals.[6] When she married Milton Gale in 1957 her two bridesmaids were Aboriginal women, Gladys Long and Linda Vale.[7] 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'[8]

During her time at The University of Western Australia Fay Gale was instrumental in developing significant advances in gender equity.[9][10]

The University of Western Australia offers a fellowship for academics wishing to study overseas in her name - Fay Gale Fellowships.[11]

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 considered Dame Roma Mitchell one of her key mentors.

Her son is Silicon Valley-based investor Michael Gale.

Rindos affair

Main article: Rindos affair

Gale was involved in considerable controversy in the early to mid 1990s over activities in the Anthropology department that became known as the "Rindos Affair"[12] and ultimately made what The Times called "state history"[13] by leading to an enquiry by the Legislative Council. 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.[14] 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.[15]

Key appointments

Firsts

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ University of Adelaide: Leaders in their Fields
  2. ↑ Textbooks that moved Generations
  3. ↑ A study of assimilation: Part Aborigines in South Australia
  4. ↑ See Women's History Month 2007
  5. ↑ Edna's story
  6. ↑ National Aborigines Day 1966
  7. ↑ Dr Fay Gale – a lifetime of work with Aboriginal women
  8. ↑ Rod Lucas, 'The Failure of Anthropology', in The Australian Public Intellectual Network
  9. ↑ Report - International Colloquium Women into Management in Higher Education
  10. ↑ Joan Eveline, Ivory Basement Leadership: Power and Invisibility in the Changing University, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley WA, 2004. pp. xii
  11. ↑ University of Western Australia Fellowships
  12. ↑ Chapter 6 of The Subversion of Australian Universities, edited by John Biggs and Richard Davis
  13. ↑ "Dr Rindos has now made state history after the Western Australian parliament decided to hold an inquiry into the affair."
  14. ↑ Press Coverage of the Rindos Affair
  15. ↑ Letters, Higher Education Section, The Australian, 30 September 1992
  16. ↑ AVCC Presidents and Vice-Presidents since 1920

External links


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