[1] Professor Gale is notable for many academic works including the first-ever PHD to focus on Part Aboriginal people and address issues of assimilation.
Her thesis A Study of Assimilation: Part Aborigines in South Australia was published in Adelaide in 1960 and republished in 1964 after becoming widely set as an anthropology text[2] in numerous universities.
Gale was greatly influenced by her relationship with her foster-sister Edna Walker, a member of the Stolen Generation[6] and was an early speaker and activist for change in the treatment of Aboriginal people.
Rod Lucas discusses this treatment in 'The Failure of Anthropology'[9] During her time at The University of Western Australia Gale was instrumental in developing significant advances in gender equity.
[14] Gale was involved in considerable controversy in the early to mid-1990s over activities in the anthropology department that became known as the "Rindos Affair"[15] and ultimately made what The Times called "state history"[16] by leading to an enquiry by the Legislative Council.
As the university's first female vice chancellor, who was also single, Gale was the subject of considerable interest, and the elements of the case, involving academic rivalry and sexual exploits, captured the imagination of the press, with well over 100 news items being published.
[17] The background controversy was concerned with preferential homosexual and lesbian engagement between staff and selected students; and more generally over the disruption to their studies caused by radical changes wrought by the then Hawke Labor Government.