Evelyn Crawford was a strong advocate for improving Indigenous education. In 1998 she was given a honorary doctorate by the Charles Sturt University in recognition for her achievements.
Crawford was a Barkindji woman. She was born on Rossmore Station but while she was a little girl, her family moved to Yantabulla in far west New South Wales to be near her father's elderly parents. While in Yantabulla, she had the opportunity to receive some western education. Crawford also learned tracking and other traditional skills from her Aunties and Uncles.
By the time she was nine, her family moved to Brewarrina Mission to follow the Yantabulla Indigenous community who now resided there. Due to the oppressive nature of the Mission Manager, Crawford's family decided to go back to Yuntabulla via Enngonia. They escaped in the middle of the night, smuggling, by request of their families, eleven Indigenous children hidden in a special compartment of the Crawford's wagon. Fearing they would get caught with the children, Crawford's parents directed a parallel route to Enngonia for the eight light-skinned children which included Evelyn. For approximately 130 kilometres, the light skinned children walked on their own, making sure they avoided detection. When they arrived in Enngonia, the smuggled children waited for their families to collect them.
Not long after they got back to Yantabulla, they got word of 'business' happening at Mootwingee. Crawford's father said it was time for the two sisters to become women. After 'business', Crawford's parents separated, and her mother took her younger sister Gladys to Wilcannia. It was over a year before she met her mother again.
Her father could not care for her full time, so Evelyn was sent to live with an Auntie, but she soon left to find work. She learned droving skills so that she could earn her own money. She also worked as a Tar Boy, penning and drafting sheep, and picking up wool and throwing fleeces for the wool classer.
In the mid 1940s, her father told her that her he had arranged her marriage to Gong Crawford, when she was a little girl. She knew of Gong from rodeos and droving jobs. They met up on droving trips and by 1946 the first of their thirteen children were born. In 1948, they had a traditional marriage ceremony and in 1952 they had a westernised wedding. They were married for over twenty years before Gong died from a heart attack.
After Gong died, Crawford started volunteer work at the Brewarrina School. Crawford, Olive Mitchell and the principle of Brewarrina went to the Education Department to propose Indigenous teachers for rural areas, but the idea was rejected. Instead a Teacher's Aide course was created at the University of Sydney in 1976, and Crawford enrolled. During her course she started to have regular discussions about Indigenous education with Mitchell, Bill Rose and Yvonne Bolton, and together they formed the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG).
Crawford taught at Brewarrina for eight years. Then she moved to Broken Hill to work as the TAFE Aboriginal Regional Co-ordinator for the Far-West Region of New South Wales. She got out into the Indigenous community talking to them about TAFE and the opportunities it could provide. While in her position at TAFE, she helped establish the Wilcannia TAFE campus and organised vocational training for Indigenous people living in remote areas. Crawford participated on several educational committees, from local to national levels. She also helped plan and develop the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum, of which she was a chairperson.
In 1988, she met Queen Elizabeth, who commended her work in Indigenous education. Crawford retired shortly after turning sixty.
(Source: Over my Tracks: A Remarkable Life, Crawford, E. as told to Chris Walsh)
