Indigenous Australia

Frank Fisher (1905–1980), rugby league footballer, was born in 1905 at Townsville, Queensland, son of Frank Fisher and his wife Rosie, née Shilling. He lived at Barambah (later Cherbourg) Aboriginal Settlement for most of his life. In the 1930s and 1940s he was captain of the settlement’s rugby league team. Tall, tapering and barrel-chested, he was regarded as one of the best amateur players in the country. He died in 1980. In 1996 a bridge over Barambah Creek was named in his honour and, in 2008, he was named as a member of the Australian rugby league Indigenous Team of the Century (1908–2007). Olympic gold medallist Cathy Freeman is his granddaughter.