The Australian Women's Register

Nova Peris was born in Darwin in 1971 to parents Joan Peris and John Christopherson. From a young age Nova demonstrated great athletic ability, excelling at sports such as basketball, touch football, swimming, hockey, cricket, athletics and Australian Rules.

Nova was the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, as a member of the Hockeyroos at the Atlanta Olympics (1996). However, from 1997 to 2001, Nova turned her attention to athletics. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games she won two gold medals; one for the 200m and another for the 4x100m relay.

On 8 June 2000 Nova was the first Australian to run with the Sydney Olympic torch on Australian soil. Passed on to her by Indigenous elders, she carried the torch around Uluru with her daughter, Jessica, alongside her. Nova also competed at the Sydney Olympics; she reached the semi-finals of the 400m and was also a member of the 4x400m relay team. In 2005, Nova sold her Olympic Memorabilia to the National Museum of Australia in Canberra

Throughout her career, Nova was the recipient of a number of awards and honours. In 1997 she was awarded both the Young Australian of the Year award and the Medal of the Order of Australia ‘for service to sport as a gold medallist in the Atlanta Olympic Games, 1996′. She also received the Australian Sports Medal in June 2000.

In 2012 Nova established the Nova Peris Girls’ Academy (NPGA) at St John’s College, Darwin, where the primary focus was to keep Indigenous girls in education. The following year she became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the Federal Parliament. Nova announced her retirement from federal politics in 2016.