Faith Thomas

Faith Thomas AM (née Coulthard; born 22 January 1933) is an Australian former cricketer and hockey player. She was also a nurse in regional South Australia.

For the American screenwriter, see Faith Thomas (screenwriter).

Faith Thomas
AM
Personal information
Born (1933-02-22) 22 February 1933
Nepabunna, South Australia
BattingRight hand bat
BowlingRight arm fast
International information
National side
Only Test21 February 1958 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1956-1958South Australia Women's cricket team
Career statistics
Competition WTest
Matches 1
Runs scored 3
Batting average 3.00
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 3
Balls bowled 36
Wickets 6
Bowling average -
5 wickets in innings 1
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 6/0
Catches/stumpings 1/0
Source: CricInfo, 5 March 2015

Early life

Thomas was born at the Nepabunna Aboriginal Mission in South Australia. Her mother, Ivy, was an Adnyamathanha woman and her father German.[1] Her mother took her to the Colebrook Home for Aboriginal Children in Quorn when she was a baby.[2][3] She played cricket with other children at Colebrook using stones as balls, and making bats from wood they found.[1]

Nursing career

Thomas completed her nursing training in 1954, and was South Australia's first Indigenous nurse to be employed as a public servant.[4][5] Thomas undertook midwifery training in Adelaide at Queen Victoria Hospital in Adelaide and in 1958 was employed to work at Raukkan (known then as Point McLeay Aboriginal Reserve).[4]

Cricket career

After being introduced to cricket by a colleague at Royal Adelaide Hospital, she soon made the state women's team. She played for the South Australia Women's cricket team between 1956 and 1958.

In 1958 she was selected for the Australian national team.[6] She played her only international match against England.[2][7][8] She was the first Aboriginal woman to be selected to represent Australia in sport, and until 2019 (following the selection of Ashleigh Gardner)[9] was the only Indigenous woman to play test cricket for Australia.[10][11]

References

Notes
  1. "5 Indigenous women who didn't get the credit". NITV. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. "message stick - Faith Thomas". ABC TV (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  3. Thomas, Faith (1990), From the shoulder, retrieved 9 November 2016
  4. Centre, The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research. "Thomas, Faith - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. Jackson, Russell (22 December 2016). "Aboriginal cricket pioneer Faith Thomas: 'I'm still the fastest woman bowler ever'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  6. "Aborigines meet over sport grants". The Canberra Times. 45 (12, 675). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 5 December 1970. p. 38. Retrieved 9 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Faith Coulthard". CricketArchive. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  8. Whimpress, Bernard (1992), Few and far between : prejudice and discrimination among Aborigines in Australian first class cricket 1869-1988, retrieved 9 November 2016
  9. Jolly, Laura (18 July 2019). "Aussie trio to make their Test cricket debut in Taunton". cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  10. Booth, Andrea; Briscoe, Luke. "20 inspiring black women who have changed Australia". NITV. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  11. "History in the making: a fast bowler with raw pace and wicket-taking ability". National Indigenous Times. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

Further reading
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