Gladys Nicholls

Her mother, Alice Campbell, was a Djadjawurrung and Baraparapa woman, while her father, Meera Bux (Baksch), was a Punjabi Indian merchant who ran a general store in Barmah on the Victorian side of the Murray.

In 1939, the couple moved to Barmah after many residents staged a mass walk-off from the reserve due to its authoritarian management and poor conditions.

Dowie's brother, Douglas Nicholls, an Australian rules footballer and pastor, supported the family, and married Gladys in December 1942.

[2] After the end of World War II, Nicholls worked voluntarily to address rising poverty and social problems in the urban Aboriginal community in Melbourne.

She taught in Sunday school, and founded a series of opportunity shops in Fitzroy, recognising the need for community fundraising due to the dearth of government support.