Isobelle Mary Ferguson

Isobelle Mary Ferguson (18 February 1926 – 15 August 2019), also known as Isobelle McCallum and Isobelle Kent, was an Aboriginal Australian nurse and activist. She was the daughter of activist and leader Bill Ferguson, and was the first known Aboriginal person to train at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Camperdown, Sydney. She was active in the Aboriginal Affairs Association and the Aboriginal Affairs Association in the 1960s, and joined the Freedom Ride across regional New South Wales in 1965.

Early life and education Isobelle Mary Ferguson was born on 18 February 1926 at Euabalong, New South Wales. She was the seventh of twelve children of Wiradjuri man William (Bill) Ferguson, shearer (later activist), and his wife Margaret Mathieson (née Gowan). Her father was a Wiradjuri man who worked as a sheep shearer and became a prominent activist, co-founding the Aborigines Progressive Association (APA) along with Jack Patten in 1937.

The family moved to Dubbo in 1933, and Ferguson attended Dubbo High School.

Career For the last six months of her training, Ferguson worked at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Pearl Gibbs, and others in 1963, and Ferguson became honorary secretary of this too. She attended the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement conference as honorary state secretary, and read the APA report.

Ferguson died on 15 August 2019.