To date, the work of Aboriginal early childhood educators in the mid-twentieth century has not been widely acknowledged. Nancy Barnes, nee Brumbie (1927–2012), exemplifies the strength and tenacity of Aboriginal Australians who had to negotiate their lives and work in white institutions and a society which denied them fundamental human rights. Nancy graduated from the Adelaide Kindergarten Training College in December 1956 as the first qualified Aboriginal kindergarten director in South Australia. Following on, she was the foundation director of Ida Standley Preschool in Alice Springs (1959–1962) then the first ‘regional director’ in the Kindergarten Union of South Australia. Based on traditional archival research and analysis of public documents and Barnes’ autobiography, the article begins with her childhood and youth as a domestic servant and then explores her career, political activism, experiences of racism and lifelong commitment to addressing inequalities between Aboriginal and white Australians through education.

迄今为止，在二十世纪中叶，土著儿童早期教育工作者的工作尚未得到广泛认可。南希·巴恩斯（Nancy Barnes）和妮·布兰比（nee Brumbie，1927年-2012年）体现了原住民澳大利亚人的力量和坚韧，他们不得不在白人机构和一个否定了他们基本人权的社会中进行生活和工作谈判。南希于1956年12月毕业于阿德莱德幼稚园培训学院，是南澳大利亚州第一位合格的原住民幼儿园主任。之后，她担任爱丽丝泉（Ilice Stands）艾达斯坦德利幼儿园（Ida Standley Preschool）的基金会理事（1959年至1962年），然后成为南澳大利亚幼儿园联盟的第一位“地区主任”。根据传统档案研究和对公共文件的分析以及巴恩斯的自传，