Evonne Goolagong Crawley's parents were fruit-pickers. For the first two years of her life she travelled with them, and at one point in her journey she came across a tennis ball which became a 'security blanket' that she squeezed in her hands. Goolagong's older brother, Larry, grabbed one of her tennis balls and used a stick to hit it against the tin wall of their shack in Tarbogan. Soon Goolagong was joining in. Her father fashioned a wooden racket out of a fruit box for his children to use, but it was Goolagong who claimed it as her own.
Goolagong started school in 1956. This was also the year that the War Memorial Tennis Courts were built behind the Goolagong's house. At this time Goolagong was playing her own form of tennis, practising her forehands and backhands against the brick-wall of the tennis club house. When she was seven, she was given a dispensation to join the War Memorial Tennis Club at Barellan, where the joining age was ten. In her first game, she was paired with her sister, Barbara, for a doubles match that they won.
In 1961, the Victor A. Edwards Tennis School (VAETS) held a clinic in Barellan. The clinic was held again the following year, and the clinic coaches Colin Swan and Faith Martin were impressed with Goolagong's improvement. They telephoned Vic Edwards, telling him to come see her play.
In 1963, Goolagong found herself flying to Sydney. While there she stayed at Vic Edward's house and trained in the VAETS, having one-on-one tutoring with him. Before she was thirteen, she had won over 80 singles and doubles age titles.
Goolagong continued to play tennis until she retired in her thirties. She was the first Indigenous Australian to compete at Wimbledon or to represent Australia in world tennis. During her career she won many matches, including Wimbledon in 1971 against Margaret Court, and in 1980, against Chris Evert. Her second win was the first time in 66 years a mother had won Wimbledon. Goolagong was the French Open winner in 1971, Italian Open winner, 1973, and the Australian Open winner, 1974-1977.
Goolagong and her husband worked together in hotel development. She also played tennis matches for corporate functions. In 1986 she played in the over 35s tennis tournaments against other retired tennis greats. In 1988 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
In 1992, Goolagong and her family headed from the United States of America to Australia to live. While back in Australia Goolagong concentrated on writing her autobiography. She travelled across her people's country visiting places of importance and made contact with the older members of her community, listening to their stories about her family. In 1993, her autobiography Home! : The Evonne Goolagong Story was published.
Googlagong has been Ambassador for the Sport of Tennis in Australia (1998-2005, 2012-2021), and Board member of the Indigenous Land Corporation (2007-2011). In 2011 she received the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sport, and established the Evonne Goolagong Foundation in 2012.
Goolagong also holds honourary doctorates from Charles Sturt University, Griffith University, The University of Sydney and University of South Australia.
In 2018, she was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
