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First female captain
Australia’s first female boat captain was the River Murray’s Pearl Wallace. Pearl was brought up on the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin where her father, William Collins, was a paddle-steamer captain. In 1947, when William became unable to continue as skipper and his sons were otherwise engaged, he convinced Pearl that she could take charge of his steamer. Pearl was awarded a Master Mariner’s certificate in October 1947, the first Australian woman to earn the title of captain. Pearl’s life was the inspiration behind Nancy Cato’s novel All the rivers run which was made into a television mini-series.
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| TITLE | Australia's first female riverboat Captain, Captain Pearl Hogg at the wheel of P.S. Kookaburra |
| DESCRIPTION | Close up of Captain Pearl Hogg at the wheel of 'P.S. Kookaburra'. |
| DATE | ca.1950 |
| Image record | |
Copies of this image may be made for private research/study. You may order a high quality photographic copy. Any other use requires permission from the State Library of South Australia. |
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Further reading
McInerney, Graham. ‘Skipper Pearl Wallace’s life on the rivers runs like a novel’, The Advertiser, 1 September 1987, p. 2.
Wallace, Pearl. A river woman: Australia's first female riverboat captain tells her story,Lismore, NSW: Southern Cross University Press, 2001