Gladys Nicholls

{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal activist (1906–1981)}}

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Gladys Nicholls

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Gladys Naby Muriel Bux

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|10|21}}

| birth_place = Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales, Australia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1981|1|28|1906|10|21}}

| death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

| nationality =

| other_names = Gladys, Lady Nicholls

| occupation =

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

• {{Marriage|Herbert Nicholls|1927|1942}}
• {{Marriage|Douglas Nicholls|26 December 1942|28 January 1981}}

}}

}}

File:Pastor Sir Douglas and Lady Gladys Nicholls Memorial.jpg]]

Gladys Naby Muriel Nicholls, Lady Nicholls ({{nee|Bux}}; 21 October 1906 – 28 January 1981) was an Australian Aboriginal activist, who made significant contributions to developing support networks and improving conditions for the urban Aboriginal community in Melbourne, Victoria, and across Australia, from the 1940s to the 1970s.

She was born Gladys Bux at Cummeragunja Reserve in Yorta Yorta country, near Moama on the New South Wales side of the Murray River and the border with Victoria. Her mother, Alice Campbell, was a Djadjawurrung and Baraparapa woman, while her father, Meera Bux (Baksch), was a Punjabi Indian merchant who ran a general store in Barmah on the Victorian side of the Murray. Gladys attended school on the reserve, and worked in her father's store, then later as a dairy maid.{{cite journal |last1=Grimshaw |first1=Patricia |title=Gladys Nicholls: An Urban Aboriginal Leader in Post-war Victoria |journal=Founders, Firsts and Feminists: Women Leaders in Twentieth-century Australia |url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/fff/pdfs/nicholls.pdf|date=2011}}

At the age of 19, she married Herbert "Dowie" Nicholls, whose family was also from Cummeragunja. In 1939, the couple moved to Barmah after many residents staged a mass walk-off from the reserve due to its authoritarian management and poor conditions. They then moved to Melbourne, where Gladys worked in a munitions factory. In 1942, Dowie died from head injuries sustained after he was hit by a car, leaving Gladys a widow with three children. Dowie's brother, Douglas Nicholls, an Australian rules footballer and pastor, supported the family, and married Gladys in December 1942.{{cite web |title=Biographies of Sir Douglas and Lady Gladys Nicholls |url=https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au%2FSiteCollectionDocuments%2Fnicholls-biographies.doc |publisher=City of Melbourne |accessdate=15 July 2018}}

After the end of World War II, Nicholls worked voluntarily to address rising poverty and social problems in the urban Aboriginal community in Melbourne. She taught in Sunday school, and founded a series of opportunity shops in Fitzroy, recognising the need for community fundraising due to the dearth of government support.{{cite web |title=Lady Gladys Nicholls |url=https://www.vic.gov.au/aboriginalvictoria/community-engagement/leadership-programs/aboriginal-honour-roll/2012-victorian-aboriginal-honour-roll/lady-gladys-nicholls.html |website=2012 Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll |publisher=Government of Victoria |accessdate=15 July 2018}} In 1956, Nicholls opened and managed a hostel for Aboriginal girls in Northcote, which was originally named "Cummeragunja" after her birth place, but was later named the Lady Gladys Nicholls Hostel after Nicholls herself.

Nicholls was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2008.{{Cite web |date= |title=Lady Gladys Nicholls |url=https://www.vic.gov.au/lady-gladys-nicholls |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=State Government of Victoria |language=en-au}}