Noelena Tame

Noelena Tame was an Australian human rights activist and bowls player. In 1978, she founded the Australian Transsexuals Association, a support group for trans women which by 1982 was actively campaigning for legal rights for transgender people.

Biography Little is known about Tame's life; at the point she began her activism in the late 1970s, she had undergone gender-affirming surgery and was a retiree living in Coogee in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia, where she was an active member of the Moore Park Women's Lawn Bowls Club.

During the late 1970s or early 1980s, Tame founded the Australian Transsexuals Association, a transgender support group based in Sydney. The history of the ATA's early days, including its exact founding date and membership, remains largely unknown; described as "informal and discrete", much of the group's early activism consisted of communication and support between members being offered through mail correspondence. It is known that the ATA's initial focus was supporting trans women who intended to undergo gender-affirming surgery, as Tame had, and was not known for its campaigning and public activism until later in its history.

By 1981, Tame was running weekly ATA meetings at the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, where she likely first met transgender activist Roberta Perkins. By 1982, the ATA's scope had expanded to include public activism for transgender rights, in addition to the peer support for trans woman as originally envisioned by Tame; that year, it organised Australia's first transgender rights rally in Manly.

After the dismissal of the case, Tame did not return to the ATA's leadership, though continued to campaign for transgender rights.

Recognition Tame featured in the 1983 documentary film Man into Woman: The Transsexual Experience, directed by John Ruane, which received a limited release in Australia. Tame appeared in the film alongside Perkins, Carmen Rupe and Chanelle St Laurent.

In 2023, ACON, a New South Wales-based HIV organisation, paid tribute to Perkins as a "trans trailblazer and leader" to commemorate International Women's Day.