Leaders hail nurse’s legacy

AUNTY Pamela Mam, a trailblazing indigenous leader who began her health career on Palm Island and went on to advocate for and establish health services for First Nations people has died. She was 81.

Mrs Mam, a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji peoples in the Cooktown area, was born in Richmond in 1938. She spent her formative years on Palm Island, 70km off Townsville’s coast, after her mother was removed from Cooktown under the oppressive Federal Government policy of Assimilation for Aboriginal people of the time.

It was there Mrs Mam discovered her passion for nursing, starting as a nurse aide at

Palm Island Hospital before receiving permission to train as a nurse at Townsville Hospital between 1954 and 1959 to become one of the first Aboriginal nurses in Queensland.

Next she studied midwifery at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Brisbane, and with her late husband Steve Mam, advocated for indigenous health services before helping establish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) in Brisbane in 1973.

Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council chief executive Neil Willmett said Mrs Mam succeeded in her career and her personal life and was loved by many.

Health Minister Steven Miles said Mrs Mam was an

“inspirational figure who has created an ongoing legacy … for healthcare for First Nations Queenslanders”.

ATSICHS is one of the state’s largest First Nations community-owned and managed organisations, offering primary healthcare, aged care, family and child safety services and a youth service.

A scholarship in Mrs Mam’s name was created in 2015 by Griffith University in conjunction with ATSICHS Brisbane.

She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Griffith University in 2018 and was named as a life member of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council and ATSICHS Brisbane.

Mrs Mam passed away on January 17.