The Hoola Girls

The Hoola girls were an Aboriginal women’s performance troupe who appeared on mid-twentieth-century Australian stages, blending Polynesian-inspired dance with Aboriginal musical traditions and local community entertainment. A 1957 report in Dawn Magazine records a concert at Central Tilba, describing the girls sewing their own vibrant costumes with guidance from Mrs Hendrickson. Their orchestra was a talented family ensemble: Stephen, Ida and Ian Hoskins on string instruments, joined by Iris and their father, “old Ned” Hoskins. Guboo Ted Thomas was also known to tap dance, sing and play the gumleaf to accompany the dancers on tour.

Far from being a simple display of exotic spectacle, the Hoola Girls’ performances provided Aboriginal women with one of the few avenues for economic independence during a period when state authorities commonly withheld or controlled Aboriginal wages. Historical research into sideshow and touring acts at that time, shows that performers were often paid directly and could spend their earnings as they chose. Buying their own spangles, skirts, and bras for the stage became an act of quiet self-determination and independence against a system of withheld wages and trustee arrangements.

Their repertoire reflects an early artistic crossover between Aboriginal and Polynesian music through to Australian popular culture from the 1920s onward, illustrating how Aboriginal women adapted and reshaped global entertainment styles for their own artistic and economic purposes.