Nola James Wall Art

Nola James (Born 1933) was born at North Rockhampton. She was an Aboriginal cultural activist and leader. She was the 5th of 6 children born of Margaret and her husband Joseph James of Queensland. Her father was of Gangulu heritage and her great-grandmother was born at Cullin-la-Ringo. Nola attended the Bluff Colliery State School and had a short stint at correspondence schooling. She later she worked on pastoral stations with her family, then as a domestic worker. She was an early visionary for the education of Australians (non-Indigenous) about Aboriginal culture and life. She raised a family comprising of 9 children and worked as a nurse for the Aboriginal Medical Service. Here she was particularly helping young mothers. At the age of 40, she was among a group of parents who began to teach their children traditional dances. Nola was a coordinator and founding member of the Central Queensland Aboriginal Corporation for Cultural Activities; she ran activities such as dance training.

She also recorded stories using small amounts of grant funding. From 1986 she was on the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council. She served here for 3 years and in 1987 she got an appointment to the council of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. She visualized a cultural center to be located at Rockhampton and set out to raise funds and publicize the venture. Come 1985 the city council granted some land for the venture. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Commonwealth Bicentennial grants provided funds, and the cultural center was opened by Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1988.