Person
Gale, Gwendoline Fay (Fay) (1932 - 2008)
AO
- Born
- 13 June 1932
Balaklava, South Australia, Australia - Died
- 3 May 2008
- Occupation
- Geographer and Vice-Chancellor
Summary
Fay Gale was Australia's foremost cultural geographer and a committed advocate of equal opportunity for women and for Aboriginal people. Her interest in Aboriginal women stemmed from childhood when three girls of the "stolen generation" (who became life-long friends) lived with her family, and her realisation of why they were treated differently. This led directly to her PhD thesis A study of assimilation: part Aborigines in South Australia and some of her most critically important books such as Women's role in Aboriginal society (1970) and We are bosses ourselves (1993). Her early research with Aboriginal communities often represents the only written records of some people. Gale's career was a series of firsts, often achieved in the face of entrenched resistance: first female Professor at the University of Adelaide; first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Western Australia; first female President of the Institute of Australian Geographers and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. At the Universities of Adelaide and Western Australia she worked to achieve equitable treatment of women. Many of her publications highlighted failures of government policy and embedded silencing of women's voices. In 2008 the Australian Academy of Social Sciences inaugurated the Fay Gale Annual Lecture honouring a distinguished woman social scientist from among the Academy Fellows. The Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender was established at the University of Adelaide in 2009.
Details
Chronology
- 1954
- Education - BA, University of Adelaide
- 1960
- Education - PhD, University of Adelaide
- 1966 - 1971
- Career position - Lecturer in Geography, University of Adelaide
- 1971 - 1975
- Career position - Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of Adelaide
- 1972
- Career position - Visiting Lecturer, Geography School, University of Oxford
- 1975 - 1978
- Career position - Reader in Geography, University of Adelaide
- 1978
- Career position - Visiting Professor, University of Washington
- 1978 - 1988
- Career position - Professor of Geography, University of Adelaide
- 1988 - 1989
- Career position - Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Adelaide
- 1989
- Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of service to social science, particularly in the fields of geography and Aboriginal studies
- 1989 - 1995
- Career position - Member, Australian Heritage Commission
- 1990 - 1997
- Career position - Vice-Chancellor, University of Western Australia
- 1991
- Career position - Boyer Lecturer (with Ian Lowe) - "Changing Australia(changes through technology)"
- 1993 - 2008
- Award - Honorary Fellow, Institute of Australian Geographers
- 1996 - 1997
- Career position - President, Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee
- 1997
- Life event - Retired
- 1998 - 2000
- Career position - President, Australian Academy of Social Sciences
- 2000
- Award - John Lewis Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch
- 2001
- Award - Griffith Taylor Medal, Institute of Australian Geographers
- 2001 - 2004
- Career position - President, Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Anderson, Kay and Gale, Fay, Cultural geographies (South Melbourne: Addison Wesley, 1999), 350 pp. Details
- Gale, Fay; assisted by Alison Brookman, Urban Aborigines (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972), 283 pp. Details
- Jacobs, Jane M. and Gale, Fay, Tourism and the protection of Aboriginal cultural sites (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994), 146 pp. Details
Edited Books
- Gale, Fay ed., Women's role in Aboriginal society (Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1970), 84 pp. Details
- Gale, Fay ed., We are bosses ourselves: the status and role of Aboriginal women today (Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1993), 175 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Anderson, K., 'Making a difference: a geographer's view from the top - an interview with Fay Gale', Journal of geography in higher education, 22 (3) (1998), 363-74, https://doi.org/10.1080/03098269885769. Details
- Anderson, K., 'Gwendoline Fay Gale AO (13 June 1932 - 3 May 2008)', Geographical research, 46 (4) (2008), 468-70, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2008.00541.x. Details
- Anderson, K., 'Rethinking 'the human' in memory of Fay Gale (AO)', Geographical research, 50 (2012), 3-14, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2011.00716.x. Details
- Gale, Fay, 'Monitoring visitor behaviour at rock art sites', Rock art research, 2(2):112-8 (1985). Details
- Gale, Fay, 'The Development of University Geography, 1904-1960', South Australian Geological Journal, 102 (2004), 26-40. Details
- Magarey, Susan, 'Fay Gale, Professor Emerita (1932 - 2008)', Australian feminist studies, 24 (6) (2009), 303-6, https://doi.org/10.1080/08164640903075099. Details
Newspaper Articles
- Gale, Fay, 'Obituary: Ann Marshall, Pioneer woman geographer', The Age (2001). Details
Resources
- 'Gale, Gwendoline Fay (Fay) (1932 - 2008)', GT [Griffith Taylor] Medal, Institute of Australian Geographers, 2025, https://www.iag.org.au/index.cfm?display=646818. https://www.iag.org.au/gt-medal. Details
Resource Sections
- Harvey, Nick, 'Obituary: Fay Gale AO', in Adelaidean, 2008. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/adelaidean/issues/27061/news27160.html. Details
Theses
- Gale, Gwendoline Fay, 'A study of assimilation: part Aborigines in South Australia', PhD thesis, University of Adelaide, 1960. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 4 March 2025