In a special series, Koori Mail correspondent Peter Argent looks back across the history of First Nations sports people in this country, looking for the competitors that became heroes and idols in their respective sporting codes.

Not only the First Lady of tennis in this country, there is also a significant argument that Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley is the ultimate ‘First Lady’ of all Australian sport.

Her list of accolades alone, which include no less than seven Grand Slam tennis singles tournaments are testament to her brilliance and dedication to her craft, but also the way she carried herself through all the peaks and occasional trough across her career.