AustLit logo
Isabel Flick Isabel Flick i(A81954 works by) (a.k.a. Isabelle Flick)
Born: Established: 1928 Goondiwindi, Goondiwindi area, Darling Downs, Queensland, ; Died: Ceased: 16 Feb 2002
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Isabel Flick was an Indigenous activist who worked tirelessly for her people in the Collarenebri area. She grew up in the camp at Collarenebri in the 1930s. Her family later moved to Toomelah, where she and her siblings lived in the Toomelah Mission for three years before moving back to Collarenebri where she was refused admission to the public school.

Flick worked as a cleaner in hospitals, hotels and schools. While she was cleaning at the Collarenebri school, she began protesting the treatment the Indigenous children were receiving from staff. Flick was encouraged to join committees and councils, to speak for her people. At the same time, her caring nature made her home a refuge for people sorting out their problems.

In 1972, Flick moved to Sydney where she worked first for Prince Alfred Hospital before taking on the role of community health worker with the Aboriginal Health Unit in the New South Wales Department of Health in 1975. Moving back to Collarenebri, to care for her mother in her old age, Flick established Mangankali, a corporation that helped find funding to build houses for Indigenous Australians. She also began fighting for equal wages, better living conditions and improved camping arrangements for Aboriginal people working in the rural industry. After the deaths of several relatives in police custody, Flick was involved in campaigning for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and gave evidence at several inquests.

Flick organised an upgrade for the road to the cemetery where Indigenous people were buried, understanding the importance of the cemetery to her people. This took some time to come to fruition, and when it did she decided to retire from Mangankali. She became involved with Land Rights and land claims. When ATSIC was formed in Western NSW she was elected to the Murdi-Paaki regional council.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Isabel Flick : The Many Lives of an Extraordinary Aboriginal Woman Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2004 Z1116442 2004 single work autobiography

'The remarkable life story of a leading Aboriginal community activist who grew up in a camp in northern NSW, and worked on health, education and other social issues across the state.

"And I said that to this old fella to this old fella at the ticket box: I want you to come and fix this. Take these ropes off! What do you think we are? Our money is as good as anyone else's and we want to sit where we want to sit. I kept standing there in front of the ticket office, and by then my sister-in-law was there too. The two of us, making trouble! And my poor little heart, I don't know how it stayed in my chest".' Source: Publisher's blurb

2004 winner ASAL Awards The Australian Historical Association Awards Magarey Medal for Biography
1998 winner Rona Tranby Award
Last amended 9 Apr 2014 15:06:05
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X