use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Linden Park, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = Ernabella Mission Cemetery , burial_coordinates = , monuments = , nationality = Australian , other_names = , citizenship = , education = BA (Hons) , alma_mater =

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, occupation = Teacher and social reformer , years_active = , era = , known_for = Activism for Aboriginal and women's rights , notable_works = , style = , party = , movement = , opponents = , boards = , spouse =

Charles Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

, children = Rosemary, Andrew , parents = , mother = Lilian Frances Lade (née Millard) , father = Rev. Frank Lade , relatives = , family = , awards = , footnotes = Phyllis Evelyn Duguid (16 October 1904 – 9 March 1993),

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Lade, was an Australian teacher and Aboriginal rights and women's activist, who was highly regarded for her long-term commitment to those she saw as members of an underclass in society. She was married to, and often worked alongside,

, medical practitioner and Aboriginal rights campaigner, the couple leading much of the work on improving the lives of

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

in South Australia in the mid-twentieth century. She founded the League for the Protection and Advancement of Aboriginal and Half-Caste Women, which later became the

Aborigines' Advancement League of South Australia use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

(AALSA). The Duguids' legacies include the Duguid Indigenous Endowment Fund at

The Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university and member of the Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition ...

and the Biennial Duguid Memorial Lecture series (held in alternate years at the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

and

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

Early life and education

The third child of six children, Duguid was born on 16 October 1904 at Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia. Her father, Frank Lade (1868-1948), was a Methodist clergyman, who travelled extensively to give lectures to members of the temperance movement.Duguid, Phyllis. Interview by Mary Hutchison, 13 August 1982. Transcript. Australian Federation of University Women Oral History Project. State Library of South Australia The family moved to Adelaide in 1911, and Phyllis attended Miss Henderson's school for girls, and then Methodist Ladies' College (later Annesley College). Duguid's mother Lillian Frances (née Millard) strongly supported her daughter's study of Classics and English language and literature at the

(BA Hons, 1925), saying that "she wouldn’t allow any of us just to stay home and be what was called a homegirl, until we had done something else". Duguid worked briefly as an English tutor at the university, later became a senior English teacher at the Presbyterian Girls' College in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

(now Seymour College), and married the medical doctor Charles Duguid on 18 December 1930 at the Methodist Church,

Kent Town Kent Town is an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters local government area. History Kent Town was named for Benjamin Archer Kent (1808 – 25 November 1864), a medical practition ...

, South Australia. They had a son and a daughter.

Advocacy for women and Indigenous Australians

Duguid "epitomized the strength of gentleness" and co-promoted Charles' passion for the cause of Aboriginal justice, was a prominent activist for the welfare of Aboriginal women in her own right and edited Charles' writings. Together, they were described as being "a very powerful force". Duguid was inspired to campaign for Indigenous issues after hearing from one of Charles' patients about the poor conditions in central and northern Australia, and the widely reported

Tuckiar v The King ''Tuckiar v The King'' is a landmark 1934 judgment of the High Court of Australia. The matter examined the behaviour of the judge and lawyers in the trial of Yolngu man Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda in the Northern Territory Supreme Court a year ear ...

case in 1934, in which an unfair conviction against a

Yolngu The Yolngu or Yolŋu ( or ) are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. ''Yolngu'' means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnuma ...

man (Dhakiyarr) in the Northern Territory seven months earlier was overturned by the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

. She heard about her husband's trip to the

Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are v ...

and

Yankunytjatjara The Yankunytjatjara people, also written Yankuntjatjarra, Jangkundjara, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. Language Yankunytjatjara is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati lan ...

lands in 1935, and supported his proposal to create the Ernabella Mission.

League for the Protection and Advancement of Aboriginal and Half-Caste Women

After a trip to

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

in 1938 with the president of the

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

, W.E. Eaton, Duguid formed the League for the Protection and Advancement of Aboriginal and Half-Caste Women, consisting of group of non-Aboriginal women representing Christian and other women's organisations, the first of its kind in Australia. Duguid was the founding president of the League, and an active member of several committees, including the Equality Committee of the League of Women Voters. Within its first year of operation, the League had 205 members, with a core group of 20 women who formed the executive running the organisation. Its first main goal was "to establish and maintain a welfare and recreational centre in

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

for Aboriginal and half-caste women and girls, in order that the need for the provision of such centres be demonstrated". Defending this work in the face of criticism from Rev. J.H. Sexton of the Aborigines' Friends' Association, Duguid said that the work her group proposed was essentially women's work, for women and by women. The Alice Springs centre was envisaged as a social centre, where both Aboriginal and mixed-descent girls and women could improve themselves and raise their status, and also obtain protection from exploitation or abuse of any kind if necessary. There were also plans for a residential hostel. The scheme showed the League's commitment to assimilation, exceeding anything proposed by the federal government at that time. Although the federal government viewed the idea positively, plans for the social and recreational centre were interrupted by priorities demanded by the advent of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When the Aborigines' Protection League disbanded in 1946, it donated its remaining funds to the women's organisation, which then opened membership to men and became known as the

(AALSA) in 1950. The evolution of these groups showed a shift in emphasis from protection to advancement.

Other activities

Duguid described herself as a "Christian socialist". In 1944 she fostered a six-year-old Aboriginal boy, Sydney James Cook, who had been enrolled at King's College, Adelaide, and who lived with the family until 1950, when the Duguids decided that he would be better off growing up in an Aboriginal community, and sent him to

Roper River The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...

in the Northern Territory. In 1946–7 she actively supported Charles in his campaign against the creation of a rocket firing range at

Woomera, South Australia Woomera, unofficially Woomera village, is the domestic area of RAAF Base Woomera. Woomera village has always been a Defence-owned and operated facility. The village is located on the traditional lands of the Kokatha people in the Far North r ...

. She and Charles were prominent in AALSA, and her work was instrumental in organising the meeting at the

Adelaide Town Hall Adelaide Town Hall is a landmark building on King William Street in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The City of Adelaide Town Hall complex includes the Town Hall and the office building at 25 Pirie Street. Description and history Adelaid ...

in 1953 which gave the floor to five Aboriginal people (George Rankin, Mona Paul, Peter Tilmouth, Ivy Mitchell, and Geoff Barnes) and resulted in the creation of the Wiltja Hostel for Aboriginal secondary school students in the suburb of

Millswood Millswood is an inner-southern mainly residential suburb of Adelaide in the City of Unley. It was named after Scotsman Samuel Mills, who arrived in the colony in 1839. Description The suburb is dissected by Goodwood Road, Adelaide, Goodwood Roa ...

. She continued to take a close interest in the Hostel, and the couple once hosted 34 of the girls at their home over six weeks. Duguid was active in the League of Women Voters of South Australia, becoming its final president in 1979 as well as holding other offices prior to this. She was chairperson of the first meeting of the Status of Women Council in South Australia. She was an executive member of the WCTU and the Women's Non-Party Political Association, and board member of the

South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

's Children's Welfare and Public Relief Board for many years.

Writing and speaking

Duguid had a flair for writing and public speaking, enriched by a love of literature. She wrote and spoke on issues such as equal pay for equal work, temperance,

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...

, and

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. In 1937 she wrote a pamphlet called ''A brief account of the Smith of Dunesk Bequest'', about the bequest, comprising property in South Australia, left by Scotswoman Henrietta Smith in 1893, specifically for the benefit of Aboriginal people, which led to the foundation of the Smith of Dunesk Mission in Beltana. (Husband Charles wrote a letter to '' The Advertiser'' in 1948 which gives some details of the bequest, including that attempts had been made to divert the money from Aboriginals, and that three-quarters of the proceeds were to be used for the work of the Presbyterian Church among the aborigines at Ernabella.) She wrote a booklet entitled ''The Economic Status of the Homemaker'' in 1944, in which she advocated "homes founded on the true partnership of men and women who are free, equal and interdependent", that "the political emancipation of women can never be complete so long as a large proportion of them are economically dependent", and argued for paying wages to homemakers. She gave a talk arranged by the Marriage Guidance Council in 1953, in which she said it was important for young people to "realise the hardships involved in the unequal economic status of a husband and wife" and to plan accordingly.

Later life, honours, legacy

Duguid was known as ''Kungka'' (woman) by Pitjantjatjara people. In the

1987 Australia Day Honours The 1987 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1987 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen. The Aust ...

Duguid received the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) for service to Aboriginal welfare. She died on 9 March 1993 at Linden Park and her ashes were buried next to those of her husband at the Ernabella Mission Cemetery. The Duguid Indigenous Endowment Fund was created at the Australian National University by Rosemary and Bob Douglas (the Duguids' daughter and son-in-law) and Dr Andrew Duguid (their son). The Duguid Travelling Scholarship is enabled by an endowment made in 2002 to the ANU's Endowment for Excellence by Andrew Duguid and Rosemary Douglas in recognition of their parents' contribution. In 1994, the Aborigines Advancement League made a large donation to the University of South Australia and Flinders University, to provide study grants for Aboriginal graduates and to conduct a memorial lecture every two years. The Biennial Duguid Memorial Lecture (held alternate years at the University of South Australia and Flinders University) is held in honour of Charles and Phyllis Duguid.