Aboriginal activist; first South Australian indigenous person to stand for federal parliament

Born in 1936 at Blackford, an independent indigenous community near Kingston in the south east of South Australia, Ruby Hammond made a significant contribution to the fight for the rights of Aboriginal people in Australia and was a fervent advocate of reconciliation. Hammond completed some of her education by correspondence with the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, Adelaide, and was the first Aboriginal person to obtain a high school intermediate certificate in South Australia. After school, Hammond worked as a telephonist at the Post Master General's Department.

Hammond became a member of the Council of Aboriginal Women in 1968. In the 1970s she became active in the pursuit of equal rights for Aboriginal people and in 1974 was appointed Executive Secretary of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM). She was the Australian representative at the International Women's Year Conference in 1975 and a delegate at the World Peace Council the following year. In 1977 Hammond was named 'Woman of the Year' for her work with Aboriginal people. Hammond obtained a certificate in Pitjantjatjara Language from the South Australian College of Advanced Education in 1981 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in Public Administration, Anthropology and Ethnology in 1985. She took up a position as the Aboriginal Development Officer in the Equal Opportunity section of the State Department for Personnel and Industrial Relations. Running in a by-election for the seat of Port Adelaide in 1988, Hammond became the first indigenous South Australian to stand for federal parliament. In 1990, she was appointed Head of the Aboriginal Issues Unit for the Royal Commission Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. From 1991 to 1993 Hammond was Aboriginal Co-ordinator for the Department of Arts and Cultural Heritage. At a national level, she was appointed to the National Welfare Coordination Centre assisting in policy making for women, particularly Aboriginal women. In January 1993 Hammond was awarded the Australian Public Service Medal by Her Excellency the Governor of South Australia, Dame Roma Mitchell.

1974: Appointed Executive Secretary of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement

1977: Named 'Woman of the Year'

1988: First South Australian indigenous person to stand for federal parliament

1989-1991: Board member Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute

1990: Appointed Head of the Aboriginal Issues Unit for the Royal Commission Inquiry

26 January 1993: Public Service Medal

30 June 1993: Equal Opportunity Achievement Award (posthumous)

Forte, Margaret. Flight of an eagle : the dreaming of Ruby Hammond, Adelaide : Wakefield Press, 1995

Department of Education and Children's services (SA) See: Learner's pages: Hall of fame, scroll to Ruby Hammond