In sport, Evonne Goolagong Cawley went first

The saying goes that one has to see it, in order to be it. When Evonne Goolagong Cawley was a little girl, there were no Indigenous Australian women dominating the international tennis court. But there was a cartoon she liked to read. This cartoon, which she had found in a magazine, told the story of a young woman who was found and taken to this place called Wimbledon where she played on the magical centre court and won. This cartoon became the thing she needed to see. Decades later, Goolagong Cawley would grace that magical centre court countless times and win Wimbledon twice. She would become the first Indigenous Australian to win a singles grand slam and the first mother in modern history to win a major title. Most importantly, her presence on the court would allow others to see the possibilities.

Goolagong Cawley was born in the small wheat town of Barellan in rural New South Wales, in 1951. One of eight children, she grew up in a tin shack with her siblings. They didn’t have much, she has said, but they were happy. Her mother, Melinda, was the homemaker and her father, Kenny, a sheep shearer.

Both of her parents were Wiradjuri people and they were the only family of colour in the community — which brought with it a level of fear and uncertainty. The Australian Government’s policy at the time stipulated that authorities forcibly remove Indigenous children from their families and relocate them to camps where they would be taught how to integrate into white society. “Every time there was a shiny car,” she has said, “My mum must have worried it was the welfare people coming for her kids.”

Goolagong Cawley during the Ladies’ Singles Final at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships against American, Chris Evert Lloyd. Credit: Getty Images

A love for tennis emerged at an early age, with Goolagong Cawley’s first tennis racquet made from a wooden fruit box. The makeshift paddle didn’t have strings, but she would use it to hit a ball against the water tank — and any flat surface she could find. At the tender age of seven, she was caught peering through a fence at the Barellan Tennis Club. It was the club president, Bill Kurtzman, who caught her in the act so he invited her to join the club. With a proper tennis racquet in hand, Evonne trained and played and quickly became a local star. She found the aforementioned cartoon. “It was the age of nine that I dreamed about winning Wimbledon,” she has said. “Every time I went to hit against a wall, I used to pretend I was there, and every time I went to sleep I would dream about playing on that magical court.”

Word of her talent soon reached renowned tennis coach, Vic Edwards, who travelled to Barellan to watch the young girl play. Not long after he cast his eyes on her free-flowing right hand and gracious temperament, he saw the same future she could see for herself. It was 1965 when Edwards persuaded Goolagong’s family to allow her to move to Sydney to train and compete.

She was 14 at the time and moved in with the Edwards family. “The locals did everything they could to support her tennis dream,” Kelly Cawley Loats, Goolagong Cawley’s daughter, has said. “From buying clothes to raising funds so that she could travel to tournaments.” The young tennis star trained and competed in state and national championships. Edwards became her manager, and her talent took her onto the international stage.

“Every time I got on the court I always thought I was lucky to be there in the first place, lucky to be found in a small country town, Barellan, and actually lucky not to be taken away.”

It was 1970 when Goolagong Cawley stepped onto the magical centre court at Wimbledon in London at the age of 19. One year later, she won it — stunning the world by defeating Margaret Court in the grand final. She won the French Open that same year and was ranked number one player in the world. She was also named Australian of the Year and, one year later, Queen Elizabeth II appointed her as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

The tennis champion captivated crowds and was quickly dubbed ‘Sunshine Super Girl’. She was proud to be the only Indigenous Australian on the international tour but she also spoke out about how the media treated her as an oddity, using the words ‘Aboriginal girl’ before saying her name. “I went through some tough times. I went through a bit of racism,” she said a few years ago. “But that didn’t stop me because, you know, it was that dream – achieving that dream – of playing on that magical centre court that got me over a lot of that stuff… Every time I got on the court I always thought I was lucky to be there in the first place, lucky to be found in a small country town, Barellan, and actually lucky not to be taken away [as part of the stolen generation].”

Goolagong Cawley’s meteoric rise gave way to an enduring career on the international sporting stage. One that saw her win a total of 92 pro tournaments and become a finalist in 18 Grand Slam singles events. She won the Australian Open four times, the French Open once, and Wimbledon twice. Although the second win didn’t come easy. Nine years after her first Wimbledon victory, Goolagong Cawley made it to the grand final.

Goolagong Cawley with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at 2024 Australian Open. Image credit: Getty Images

It was 1980, her last tournament, and she defeated Chris Evert in a tiebreaker. The victory would see her become the first mother to win a Wimbledon grand slam in modern history. (Six decades earlier, Dorothea Douglass-Chambers had done the same.) She was given an Order of Australia two years later and, in 1983, finally retired from the competition. Today, she ranks number two – behind Margaret Court – for most grand slam titles held by an Australian woman.

It was 1991 when the tennis star returned to Australia after living in the United States for decades. Following the death of her mother, she decided to come home with the singular desire to learn more about her Aboriginal heritage. Since then, she has released her autobiography — which became an instant bestseller — and dedicated herself to promoting Indigenous rights and health, working with the federal government on many initiatives. Today, her foundation runs a programme which uses tennis as a vehicle to promote healthy lifestyles and education, targeting Indigenous youth.

This next generation of Indigenous athletes don’t need to look to a cartoon to see the possibilities — they merely need to look at Evonne Goolagong Cawley, a trailblazer who was once just a nine-year-old girl with a dream.

Main image: Getty Images. Evonne Goolagong seen with the 1971 Wimbledon Ladies Singles trophy after she had beaten Margaret Smith.

Jobs for the girls is a newsletter series celebrating the women who became trailblazers in their industries. This series is proudly supported by Victoria Police, who are looking for more women to join their ranks. To explore a career with Victoria Police, click here.