Hetty Perkins

Hetty Perkins (c. 1895[a] – 8 December 1979) was an elder of the Eastern Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group from Central Australia.

[1] Her father was employed on the Central Australia Railway, working on the construction of the line between Alice Springs and Oodnadatta.

[5] Turner subsequently offered Perkins part of the property, but she refused, and instead in 1928 left to work at The Bungalow at Jay Creek settlement, as a dormitory supervisor and cook.

Perkins relocated as well, and in Alice Springs met Martin Connelly, a labourer from Mount Isa, Queensland, born to an Irish father and a Kalkadoon mother.

[1] The Hetti Perkins Home for the Aged which caters for older Indigenous people, providing residential care particularly to those suffering from disabilities and chronic health problems, is named after her.