Cirrus@Austlit

Isabel Flick was an Indigenous activist who worked tirelessly for her people in the Collarenebri area. She grew up in the camp at Collarenebri in the 1930s. Her family later moved to Toomelah, where she and her siblings lived in the Toomelah Mission for three years before moving back to Collarenebri where she was refused admission to the public school.

Flick worked as a cleaner in hospitals, hotels and schools. While she was cleaning at the Collarenebri school, she began protesting the treatment the Indigenous children were receiving from staff. Flick was encouraged to join committees and councils, to speak for her people. At the same time, her caring nature made her home a refuge for people sorting out their problems.

In 1972, Flick moved to Sydney where she worked first for Prince Alfred Hospital before taking on the role of community health worker with the Aboriginal Health Unit in the New South Wales Department of Health in 1975. Moving back to Collarenebri, to care for her mother in her old age, Flick established Mangankali, a corporation that helped find funding to build houses for Indigenous Australians. She also began fighting for equal wages, better living conditions and improved camping arrangements for Aboriginal people working in the rural industry. After the deaths of several relatives in police custody, Flick was involved in campaigning for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and gave evidence at several inquests.

Flick organised an upgrade for the road to the cemetery where Indigenous people were buried, understanding the importance of the cemetery to her people. This took some time to come to fruition, and when it did she decided to retire from Mangankali. She became involved with Land Rights and land claims. When ATSIC was formed in Western NSW she was elected to the Murdi-Paaki regional council.