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.

Hetty Perkins in 1938