Three attractive Aboriginal girls graduated last December as air hostesses for the government airline TAA. They are Mary Cross, 20, of Sylvania, a Sydney suburb; Jennifer Patterson, 22, of Townsville; and Evelyn Schraber, 22, of Alice Springs, who are thought to be the only Aboriginal air hostesses now working on an airline in Australia. They graduated with 16 other beautiful and intelligent Australians.

Under the new National Employment Strategy for Aboriginals (NESA), TAA and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs undertook a recruitment drive to find suitable Aboriginal hostesses. None of the three girls chosen had considered applying for an air hostess job before, in fact they said they ‘didn’t think they’d have a chance because they were Aboriginal, and didn’t think they would be accepted’.

They see their jobs as being public relations officers, not just for TAA but for their people.

Sydney girl Mary Cross hails from Shark Bay, a little fishing village in Western Australia, and had been in Sydney for a year studying to be a secretary on an Aboriginal Study Grant. Evelyn Schraber was a clerk with the Central Land Council at Alice Springs, and Jennifer Patterson was a field officer with the Queensland Health Department. Their air hostess training was funded by the NEAT scheme.

TAA’s chairman, Sir Kenneth Vial, said he hoped the three girls would be the forerunners of more Aboriginal hostesses with the company.