Elkin Umbagai

Elkin Umbagai (February 19, 1921 – January 24, 1980) was an Australian aboriginal leader and educationalist. Born in a Presbyterian Mission in the Kunmunya Aboriginal Reserve, Western Australia, Umbagai's family mediated between missionaries and aboriginal groups, and according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography she was "reputed to be the first Australian to receive the interpreter's badge of the Girl Guides Association." After marrying in a Christian marriage ceremony in 1969, Umbagai and her family founded the Mowanjum Aboriginal Community outside Derby, Western Australia. There she became a pioneering educator in linguistics, archaeology and anthropology.