Mick Daly and Gladys Namagu

The Mick (Michael) Daly and Mary (Gladys) Namagu were an interracial couple in the Northern Territory of Australia who faced discrimination when they sought to marry in 1959.

They were refused permission to marry by Government officials, including the then Director of Welfare Harry Giese, and their plight was covered nationally and sparked public sympathy.

[2] Daly was arrested for committing the offence of ‘habitually consorting with a female ward to whom he is not married’ under the Northern Territory's Welfare Ordinance 1953 and was taken to court.

[1] This was despite that Namagu was from Halls Creek, in Western Australia, where she was subject to their Welfare Legislation, however, as soon as she entered the Northern Territory she automatically became a ward there.

This claim was supported by Julama who had made a complaint to Giese; he stated that their marriage, which occurred when Namagu was about 15, was accepted and recognised by her family.

[2][6] Daly was a personal friend of Jim Bowditch, the editor of the Northern Territory News, and he often wrote in support of the pair.

When the case was discussed in the Northern Territory Legislative Council Bowditch shared some of his correspondence with Daly, who was then living at Eva Downs Station.