Fierce Girls is celebrating First Nations women who Get Up! Stand Up and Show Up! As Australia celebrates NAIDOC week in July, we're putting the spotlight on seven fierce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Coleen Shirley Perry had a heart of gold. So when she went to visit her brother in jail, she saw something that few people saw. Instead of seeing baddies, she saw people who needed compassion, and someone to listen to their problems. Soon she was visiting lots of other prisoners. And every time the prison authorities stopped her, or questioned her, she said the same thing: 'I'm his mum.'

She became known as Mum Shirl. Word spread about how she could help, and this prominent Wiradjuri woman became a fearless supporter of anyone who needed it. She dedicated her life to helping people with their problems. She helped the homeless, the hungry, those down on their luck, women and many, many children. She established community services for Indigenous Australians and fought for their justice and welfare. And she did it all without ever setting foot in a school.

For our Indigenous and Torres Strait islander listeners: this episode contains the depiction of someone who has died.

Narrated by lawyer, activist and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, Teela Reid

If you saw an infectious disease outbreak, would you run far, far away? Dr Meru Sheel runs towards it. Meru grew up in India, where diseases like polio and tuberculosis made people around her extremely sick. It made her want to help. Meru became a disease detective, a field epidemiologist and now dedicates her life to stopping infectious diseases in their tracks! Her detective work tackles everything from gastro to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the clues she finds helps communities, scientists, healthcare workers and politicians to keep everyone safe.

Narrated by author and political commentator Jamila Rizvi

Ever wanted to change the world? Melanie Perkins did — she just needed the right problem to solve. Then it hit her. She tutored university students in graphic design, and they all had the same complaint: the software was too complicated.

Melanie knew there must be an easier way. She thought everyone should be able to make beautiful, professional looking images. So, she cleared a space in her mum's living room and got to work. She perfected her pitch, flew to the other side of the world to Silicon Valley, faced a LOT of rejection until, finally, her billion-dollar company Canva was born.

Narrated by multi-award-winning STEM journalist and Wiradjuri woman Rae Johnston

A terrible horse-riding accident left teenager Daphne Ceeney paraplegic. Doctors told her there was nothing they could do and sent her home with no hope of a normal, happy life. But when Daphne she moved to a rehabilitation centre, her life changed.

At the centre, Daphne discovered sport. She trained and practised, practised and trained and was so good she became the first Australian woman to go to the Paralympics. She was the only woman in the team and she brought home a haul of medals from a heap of different sports.

Narrated by Paralympic Medallist, and the first and only Australian athlete to win both summer and winter Paralympic medals, Jessica Gallagher

Would you willingly put your arm in a shark's mouth? Valerie Taylor did. She was a pioneering shark conservationist who believed sharks are friends, not foes. Valerie thrived in a male dominated world, and even had a brush with Hollywood when she worked on the film Jaws. This fearless, fierce adventurer of the sea had a mission; to change people's attitudes towards sharks. She travelled the world, diving and swimming with sharks and campaigning to protect them.

Narrated by Australian champion freediver Amber Bourke.

From the underwater adventurers of the past, to the disease experts of the future, Australia is FULL of girls who dare to do things differently. Fierce Girls is back for another season, starting International Women's Day.All new stories, all new narrators. Still totally Fierce.

Nora Heysen wasn’t the only talented artist in the family. As a young woman, her painting was extraordinary, but she could never get out from the shadow of her dad. She took her talents to London to carve her own identity, but male teachers and critics told her that her work wasn’t very good.

As a child, Mirka Mora narrowly escaped being sent to a death camp just for being Jewish. The faces of the people she left behind would haunt her forever.

Yukultji Napangati grew up with no contact with the outside world. Just her and her family, living on a shimmery salt lake. She learned how to live on Country, how to find food, water, and shelter. She was a particularly great hunter.