Betty Fisher a forceful advocate for range of South Australia issues, notably Aboriginal, women's, conservation
Betty Fisher's advocacy for Aboriginal rights and the environment came into the spotlight during South Australia's Hindmarsh Island royal commission, where she produced notes and tape recordings from the 1960s that confirmed the "secret women's business".
Betty Fisher (nee Dawson) was involved in a formidable range of causes in South Australia, most prominently as a feminist and advocate for Aboriginal rights and conservation.
Fisher was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2013 For significant service to the community through organisations and advisory bodies that promote social justice and the interests of women. She also joined the South Australia environment hall of fame in 2018.
Born in in Yorkshire, England, in 1925, she arrived in South Australia with her family on the SS Benalla two years later. Fisher’s family influenced her positive attitude to unionism in her jobs after leaving school and until she married in 1953. Besides serving with the Women's Land Army during World War II, Fisher was a member of the Clerks Union and the Printing and Kindred Industries Union. She also joined and worked for the Communist Party and was blacklisted because of it. She became a life member of the Labor Party. Fisher also worked as a porter on the railways in Adelaide and at Adelaide Gaol.
She built a formidable range of involvement and activism in South Australian issues. Carol Treloar, women's adviser to South Australian premier John Bannon from 1984 to 1990, said Fisher had “an uncanny ability to target and find the people she wanted to influence – politicians, ministers, advisers, bureaucrats, community activists – whether at work, at home, late at night or early morning, weekday or weekend’’.
The Conservation Council of South Australia said that Betty Fisher, as its first female president and given a lifetime achievement award, made a “contribution both to our organisation and our state's environment sector (that) cannot be overstated”.
A 1988 Bicentenary medallist, Fisher also served on the South Australia State Schools Organisations state council; the National Fitness Council of Australia, the Town and Country Planning Association and the Vietnamese Women's Tour Group.
Her advocacy for Aboriginal rights and the environment came into the spotlight during the Hindmarsh Island royal commission, where she produced notes and tape recordings from the 1960s that confirmed "secret women's business." She wrote the biography of Gladys Elphick and the history of the Aboriginal Women’s Council.
Throughout her life, Fisher was a fierce advocate for the rights of women and girls. She was the driving force behind setting up the South Australian committee of International Women’s Day and served as International Women's Day president for eight years. She received a Flinders University medal for services to women. As one of its authors, Fisher acknowledged the remarkable achievements of more than 2,000 South Australian women in a publication she produced in 2001 with the International Women’s Day Committee.
A member of the Union of Australian Women, Fisher also was part of the support group for the Women's Information (Switchboard) Service. She was a driving force in setting up the Women’s Electoral Lobby in South Australia.
