Fierce Girls is celebrating First Nations women who Get Up! Stand Up and Show Up! As Australia celebrates NAIDOC week in July, we’re putting the spotlight on seven fierce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

This episode is about Faith Thomas: the girl who became the first Indigenous person to play cricket for Australia. Listen to the full podcast.

Faith Thomas grew up throwing rocks at galahs. She’d only been playing proper cricket for a couple of weeks before she was picked to represent South Australia.

Her phenomenal stats made headlines. So, it was no great surprise when Faith got called up to represent Australia against England in Brisbane. When she stepped onto the Gabba cricket ground, she became the first Aboriginal person to play on any Australian team… not just cricket.

But cricket was just a game to Faith. So, not long after that test, she left sport behind to dedicate herself to saving lives as a nurse.

Narrated by cricketer and Muruwari woman, Ashleigh Gardner.

Extra narration by Peggy Webber. Thanks to Daniel Browning and Tyson Baird.

Download the education resource [PDF] to guide learning activities and classroom questions.