Evelyn Scott

Evelyn Ruth Scott (1935 – 21 September 2017) was an Indigenous Australian social activist and educator. She began working in the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League in the 1960s. She was actively involved in campaigning for the 1967 Constitutional Referendum. In 1971, she joined the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) executive as a vice-president. She was a leader in the transformation of FCAATSI into an Indigenous-controlled organisation in 1973, with the support of Josie Briggs. She was active in the first national women's organisation, the National Aboriginal and Islander Council, formed in the early 1970s. She became Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) in the late 1990s, at a challenging time when the federal government led by John Howard was cutting reconciliation funding.