Fierce Girls

Jade Hameister's thirst for adventure in the toughest environments was unquenchable — while other girls were playing with dolls, Jade was scaling mountains!

When she was 14, she dreamt of completing a Polar Hat Trick – a title won by skiing to the North Pole, South Pole, and across Greenland. No one her age had done it before, but Jade was not deterred. Even if she couldn't yet ski, she would find a way to make his...

Elizabeth Kenny grew up in a time when women were rarely educated, so naturally, she trained herself to be a nurse. When her patients with polio were struggling with the pain of their treatment, she thought outside the box and came up with a new way to help them – The Kenny Method. Doctors saw her as an outsider, but Elizabeth stuck to her guns and eased the pain of people in need.

Written and narrated by nine-year...

Growing up Chinese Australian under the White Australia Policy was tough, but Mary wouldn't be underestimated. She became the first-known Chinese Australian to get a university degree and used her smarts to speak up for Chinese migrant families who were being kept apart by the government. She moved to China to work as a journalist and diplomat, but when she wanted to come back to Australia after World War 2, she w...

Faith Thomas grew up throwing rocks at galahs. She'd only been playing proper cricket for a couple of weeks before she was picked to represent South Australia. Her phenomenal stats made headlines. So, it was no great surprise when Faith got called up to represent Australia against England in Brisbane.

When she stepped onto the Gabba cricket ground, she became the first Aboriginal person to play on any Australian t...

Yukultji Napangati grew up with no contact with the outside world. Just her and her family, living on a shimmery salt lake. She learned how to live on Country, how to find food, water, and shelter. She was a particularly great hunter. When she turned 14, everything changed. She saw her first other humans, and saw a car for the first time. She had been brought to live with other people from her mob, and here she fo...

Queenie McKenzie grew up on a cattle station, staying away from the grasps of the authorities, who would take Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids like her from their families at will. As she grew up, she solved problems everywhere she saw them.  From building schools and teaching kids in her community, to saving a man’s life by repairing his scalp stitch by stitch.

But deep down, she wanted to tell the stor...

When Kath Ruska's dad told her white people would never recognise Aboriginal culture, she hoped he was wrong. She became a famous poet, using her pen as a weapon to fight for Indigenous rights.

Her words took her all the way to Parliament House, where she demanded the Prime Minister do more to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

But she still had an English name, so she changed it to Abori...

Mary Ann Bugg was an Aboriginal woman who became a savvy bushranger and accomplice to Captain Thunderbolt. She was the bushranger's spy, riding ahead into towns to check for police. She also used her bush skills to gather and hunt food for the group of bushrangers she rode with. Mary Ann used her first-class education and stunning beauty to fool the troopers and avoid being caught.

Narrated by singer-songwriter The...

Molly Kelly had a white father and an Aboriginal mother and was just a young girl when she was taken from her home.

She was stolen from her family and taken to a settlement where white people hoped to stamp out her Aboriginality.

But Molly escaped and walked one thousand miles home to her family, using a rabbit-proof fence as her guide.

Written and narrated by twelve-year-old Ruby Macheda.

If you’re an Aboriginal or T...

Daisy Bindi couldn't understand why her boss paid wages to the white workers, but not to her. She was no different to them. And neither were all the other Aboriginal workers who were being treated like slaves.

In 1946 Daisy decided enough was enough. She helped lead a three-year strike which won Aboriginal workers fairer pay and better working conditions.

Narrated by singer, actor and radio presenter Christine Anu...

Coleen Shirley Perry had a heart of gold. So when she went to visit her brother in jail, she saw something that few people saw. Instead of seeing baddies, she saw people who needed compassion, and someone to listen to their problems. Soon she was visiting lots of other prisoners. And every time the prison authorities stopped her, or questioned her, she said the same thing: 'I'm his mum.'

She became known as Mum Shi...