Port Augusta

Distinguished and Famous people from Port Augusta

🏛️ Joy Baluch

Joy Baluch was born at Port Augusta in 1932 and entered council in 1970. First elected mayor in 1981, she held that office for twenty-nine years across a long civic career. Business experience and outspoken advocacy helped make her a familiar public voice, pressing for infrastructure, services and opportunities for the city and surrounding region. Council tributes also recognised work on social issues and engagement with Aboriginal communities. Her style could be forceful, but the record is grounded in decades of practical local government. She repeatedly pressed governments to take Port Augusta’s concerns seriously.

🏏 Faith Thomas

Faith Thomas made Port Augusta her home in later life after achievements in cricket and nursing. The former Faith Coulthard became the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in Test cricket in 1958, while her professional work and later advocacy served Aboriginal health and community life. Her 2019 Order of Australia citation recognised cricket and service to the Indigenous community. Friends remembered conversations over coffee on her Port Augusta back porch, preserving a personal setting beyond the sporting milestone. Her local association continued into her final years, when visitors sought out a sharp storyteller as well as a pioneering Australian sportswoman.

📚 Ben Murray

Ben Murray moved to his own cabin at Wami Kata in Port Augusta in 1979, retaining the independence he valued after a long working life with horses and camels. His knowledge of Arabana, Wangkangurru and Diyari languages, country and stories made him an important collaborator with linguists and historians. Earlier retirement at Farina had even seen him become the deserted town’s sole resident. Port Augusta is a sustained later home, where his learning continued to be shared. His legacy rests on language, memory and bush knowledge, alongside the labour that had kept remote properties working.