Gladys travelled from settlement to settlement with her parents, Polly Warrumbul and Francis Kruger delivering mail and supplies. She was forcibly removed from her parents due to the government policy of the time and was taken to the Kahlin Compound in Darwin where she was trained in domestic service. Once she reached working age, Gladys went into domestic service for Mr and Mrs Joe Hardy and Mr and Mrs Joyce. When World War II broke out Gladys was cleaning at the Katherine Hospital, she was evacuated to Balaclava in South Australia along with other Aboriginal women from Pine Creek and Katherine. Gladys returned to Katherine after the war. In 1949 Gladys decided to move to Darwin permanently where she met and married John Ah Mat. Together they had four daughters and seven sons.
Motherhood didn't stop Gladys from working, she worked as a cleaner at the Parap Infant School for five years then became a catering assistant at the old Darwin Hospital Ward Five for seventeen years until she retired in 1985. Gladys' story shows our history in regard to the treatment of aborigines and highlights the gap when there was shortage of women in the Territory who were willing and able to work before and after World War II. Throughout Gladys's life she supported and cared for others and was the proud matriarch of a large Territory family.,