There are a large number of people living in Australia who are the descendants of early arrivals of people from India, and who have made a huge contribution to life in Australia.
Many early Indian migrants married women of European or Aboriginal heritage and have descendants throughout Australia.
One of these Indians was Meer Naby Baksch, or as he was more commonly known, Meera Bux who arrived in Australia in 1890 from the Punjab, India.
“He worked as a hawker and shopkeeper at Barmah, Victoria and married Alice Campbell, a Djadjawurrung and Baraparapa woman, at Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station in New South Wales,” says Crystal Jordan, the president of Australian Indian Historical Society which has worked on the history of Indians in Australia for over three decades.
The couple had a daughter who they named Gladys.
Photo Credit: Crystal Jordan, the president of Australian Indian Historical Society Source: Supplied by Crystal Jordan, the president of Australian Indian Historical Society
“Her birth name was Gladys Naby Bux and she was born in 1906, at Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station.
“Gladys attended the government school at the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station where she was taught by Thomas Shadrack James.
“After she left the school she worked in her father’s shop. During the 1920’s she travelled to Melbourne and became a seamstress,” Ms Jordan tells SBS Hindi.
Gladys then married Howard Nicholls, also from Cummeragunja, in 1927. But she lost her husband in a car accident in 1942.
“After his death, Gladys married Howard’s brother, Douglas who was a Pastor and footballer,” says Ms Jordan.
Douglas was knighted in 1972 and earned many accolades through his life as a pastor.
Sir Douglas and Lady Glady Nicholls (Photo Credit: Crystal Jordan, the president of Australian Indian Historical Society) Source: Photo Credit: Crystal Jordan, the president of Australian Indian Historical Society
His Excellency, Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls, M.B.E., O.B.E., K.C.V.O., was appointed Governor of South Australia on 1st December 1976 and his wife became Lady Gladys Nicholls, K.C.V.O.
He was the first Aboriginal person to be knighted and the first Aboriginal to serve as a Governor.
“Unfortunately owing to Sir Douglas’s ill health, he was forced to resign on 30th April 1977,” reveals Ms Jordan.
From this time on, Gladys, the daughter of an Indian father and an Aboriginal mother, became heavily involved in advancing the Aboriginal cause in Victoria.
“Gladys taught at a Sunday school, founded several Opportunity Shops in Fitzroy, opened and managed Cummeragunja Hostel for Aboriginal girls at Northcote and among other things, she was the Secretary of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Council, and the Victorian State President,” says Ms Jordan.
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She died in 1981 and is buried next to her husband, in the Cummeragunja Cemetery, New South Wales.
“Gladys left a lasting impression and had respect from the whole community. This is a great achievement for a girl who attended a school in an Aboriginal Mission and only reached third grade.
“She rose to occupy one of the highest offices and one of the most prestigious positions in the land.
“Unfortunately most people know Gladys as an Aboriginal and her Indian heritage has been mainly forgotten.
“This is unfortunate because she is a credit to both the Indian and Aboriginal communities and she should be given recognition by both communities,” says Ms Jordan.
