Constance Doreen Bush MBE (1919 – 1997) was an Australian aboriginal health worker.[1][2]

Bush was born in 1919 at Borroloola. Her mother, Norah, was a Garrwa and her father, Tom Turner, was a mounted police constable.[1] Connie and her mother were separated in 1924, and never saw each other again.[3] Bush was raised at the mission in Groote Eylandt.[4]

A street in Alyangula, Northern Territory, is named in her honour.[5]

Bush was appointed MBE in the 1981 Birthday Honours "for services to Aboriginal women".[6]

In 1990, Bush published several short works, including two autobiographical works, in a special issue of Australian Short Stories on Aboriginal Short Stories, edited by Bruce Pascoe. The volume was dedicated to Bush and to Maureen Watson.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Bush, Constance (Connie) Doreen". The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Bush, Constance (Connie) Doreen". The Australian Women's Register. National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Tom Turner". www.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  4. ^ Dewar, Mickey (2005). "You in Your Small Corner: The Love Song of Alfred J Dyer: Early Days of Church Mission Society Missions to the Aborigines of Arnhem Land" (PDF). Humanities Research. XII (1). doi:10.22459/HR.XII.01.2005.04.
  5. ^ "Map of Connie Bush St Alyangula, NT 0885". www.whereis.com. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  6. ^ "No. 48640". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1981. p. 38.
  7. ^ "Aboriginal Short Stories". Australian Short Stories. 32: 1–80. 1990. Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via Austlit.