Australian cricket is mourning the death of Aunty Faith Thomas, the first Aboriginal woman to play Test cricket for Australia, who passed away at the weekend aged 90. Thomas (nee Coulthard) played her groundbreaking Test for Australia against England at Melbourne’s Junction Oval in February 1958, when she became the first Indigenous woman to represent an Australian sports team.
Thomas was awarded the Order of Australia in 2019 for her services to cricket and her dedication to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in a long nursing career. Retrospectively awarded a baggy green cap as the 48th Australian woman to play Test cricket, Thomas is honoured every year by the Adelaide Strikers playing for the Faith Thomas Trophy in the WBBL. Her legacy also lives on in Adelaide Oval’s Avenue of Honour as a great of the game.
