This excerpt from a longer documentary shows a young Evonne Goolagong talking about her start in tennis in the small town of Barellan, New South Wales. Evonne is a Wiradjuri woman and she talks about how the media in Australia and overseas has referred to her Aboriginality.
In 1971, Goolagong won both the French Open and Wimbledon. Having defeated Billie Jean King in straight sets in the semi-finals she went on to take out the championship against fellow Australian Margaret Court in the final. She is seen here receiving the trophy from Princess Alexandra.
During her career, Goolagong (later Goolagong-Cawley) won Wimbledon twice, the Australian Open four times, the French Open once and was runner-up for four consecutive years at the US Open. She won seven Grand Slam doubles titles and was ranked world No. 1 in 1976.
In 1980 she became the first mother to win Wimbledon since Dorothy Lambert Chambers in 1914.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.