Faith Thomas
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 22 February 1933 Nepabunna, South Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right hand bat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Only Test | 21 February 1958 v England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956-1958 | South Australia Women's cricket team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricInfo, 5 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faith Thomas AM (née Coulthard; born 22 January 1933) is an Australian former cricketer and hockey player. She was also a nurse in regional South Australia.
Early life
Thomas was born at the Nepabunna Aboriginal Mission in South Australia. Her mother, Ivy, was an Adnyamathanha woman and her father German.[1] Her mother took her to the Colebrook Home for Aboriginal Children in Quorn when she was a baby.[2][3] She played cricket with other children at Colebrook using stones as balls, and making bats from wood they found.[1]
Nursing career
Thomas completed her nursing training in 1954, and was South Australia's first Indigenous nurse to be employed as a public servant.[4][5] Thomas undertook midwifery training in Adelaide at Queen Victoria Hospital in Adelaide and in 1958 was employed to work at Raukkan (known then as Point McLeay Aboriginal Reserve).[4]
Cricket career
After being introduced to cricket by a colleague at Royal Adelaide Hospital, she soon made the state women's team. She played for the South Australia Women's cricket team between 1956 and 1958.
In 1958 she was selected for the Australian national team.[6] She played her only international match against England.[2][7][8] She was the first Aboriginal woman to be selected to represent Australia in sport, and until 2019 (following the selection of Ashleigh Gardner)[9] was the only Indigenous woman to play test cricket for Australia.[10][11]
References
Notes
- ^ a b "5 Indigenous women who didn't get the credit". NITV. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ a b "message stick - Faith Thomas". ABC TV (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ Thomas, Faith (1990), From the shoulder, retrieved 9 November 2016
- ^ a b Centre, The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research. "Thomas, Faith - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Jackson, Russell (22 December 2016). "Aboriginal cricket pioneer Faith Thomas: 'I'm still the fastest woman bowler ever'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Aborigines meet over sport grants". The Canberra Times. Vol. 45, no. 12, 675. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 5 December 1970. p. 38. Retrieved 9 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Faith Coulthard". CricketArchive. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Whimpress, Bernard (1992), Few and far between : prejudice and discrimination among Aborigines in Australian first class cricket 1869-1988, retrieved 9 November 2016
- ^ Jolly, Laura (18 July 2019). "Aussie trio to make their Test cricket debut in Taunton". cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ Booth, Andrea; Briscoe, Luke. "20 inspiring black women who have changed Australia". NITV. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- ^ "History in the making: a fast bowler with raw pace and wicket-taking ability". National Indigenous Times. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
Further reading
- Jackson, Russell (23 December 2016). "Aboriginal cricket pioneer Faith Thomas: 'I'm still the fastest woman bowler ever'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- Jolly, Laura (1 February 2020). "Keeping the Faith: How Thomas's legacy is living on". Cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- Monga, Sidharth (25 October 2019). "Encounter: Faith Thomas is the Aussie legend you haven't heard of". The Cricket Monthly. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
