Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher is an Elder of the Thaynakwith peoples in the Western Cape York area of far north Queensland. Thancoupie is the only remaining fluent speaker of the Thaynakwith language.
Thancoupie was born at Weipa to Ida and Jimmy James and was given the name Thanakupi at birth. Her mother gave her the name Gloria James at her Baptism. In rediscovering her language, she adopted the name Thancoupie but she also uses the variant spelling Thanakupi. Thancoupie grew up in the small Napranum community and attended the mission school there before studying ceramics in Sydney.
Thancoupie has worked as a ceramic artist, story teller, educator, community leader, advocate, and negotiator. She began telling her community's stories through clay, tile and other ceramic arts. Her life work has been recording the language and stories of the Thaynakwith people. Thancoupie was awarded the 2006 Visual Arts Emeritus Award by the Australia Council for the Arts for her unparalleled career as an Indigenous artist, teacher, and community leader.
