Phillip Waipuldanya Roberts
Australian traditional doctor (1922–1988)
Phillip Waipuldanya Roberts (1922 – 24 November 1988) was a traditional doctor, activist and adviser to the Commonwealth Government of Australia on Aboriginal policies and programs.
Early life
Roberts was born south of the Roper River in the country of the Alawa people. He was the eldest son of Barnabas Gabarla, a former drover, stockman and saddler who became an evangelist for Roper River Mission. He is the brother of Mercia Butler and Silas Ngulati Roberts.
Roberts received a primary school education from the mission and became a motor mechanic.
Working life
In 1953, he went to Urapunga Station to repair a marine engine and met Dr WA (Spike) Langsford of the Department of Health accompanying him on a survey of the Victoria River District. He then worked as a medical assistant for the department and became well known for seeking out Aboriginal people in remote areas with leprosy, encouraging them to come to Darwin for treatment. It earned him the title of 'Leper Hunter'. Queen Elizabeth II visited Roberts on her 1963 visit to Darwin.
In 1969 he was selected as one of only three advisers for the Council of Aboriginal Affairs established after the 1967 Referendum.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28355689. VIAF identifies the subject as 296463299. The Library of Congress control number is nr90028990. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 1988, 1953 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phillip Waipuldanya Roberts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.