Caroline Lillian Archer

Caroline Lillian Archer (22 February 1922 – 8 December 1978)

Her activism involved the patenting of Australian Aboriginal culture against cultural exploitation. She later joined the One People of Australia League (OPAL), where she held the position of executive officer (1974), and eventually became state president of the organisation. In 1978, Archer joined the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Canberra, with her responsibilities including the education of Canberra schoolchildren in indigenous culture.

Early life Caroline Archer was born at the Aboriginal reserve in Cherbourg, Queensland, the daughter of Norman Brown and her Aboriginal mother Lillian Masso, later Fogarty. Archer was raised under the supervision of the Queensland Department of Native Affairs which segregated people of Aboriginal descent on reserves.

Archer was educated at the reserve school to fourth grade, a level considered sufficient for an Aboriginal girl. At fourteen, Archer was employed in domestic service by the Kay family at Whetstone station near Inglewood, Queensland, where she was paid the equivalent of a white worker's wage not the less amount prescribed for Aboriginal servants as well as encouraged to continue her education. Archer worked in Canberra where she addressed schools and other groups on aspects of Aboriginal culture.

Personal life

On 29 December 1951, at the Baptist City Tabernacle she married Frederick Archer, an English-born aircraftsman and photographer. They had two daughters and a son. She was returning to her home in Brisbane for Christmas from Narrabri at the time of the accident with her husband, son, and two daughters who survived the incident. She was cremated.