Doug Nicholls, Sydney Town Hall28 April 1970

Doug Nicholls

‘I know we can proudly hold our own with others if given the chance.’

Sir Douglas Ralph Nicholls, from Yorta Yorta country along the Murray River in southern NSW, was the first Aboriginal Australian to be knighted, in 1972, and the first to serve as a state governor, in 1976–77. Alongside a stellar sporting career as a boxer, sprinter and footballer, he was a committed Christian, an activist and a pioneering campaigner for reconciliation.

^{Quote from 1938 Day of Mourning protests, Australian Dictionary of Biography online}