Loraine Braham, a pioneering figure in Northern Territory politics and the first woman to serve as speaker of the NT Legislative Assembly, has died aged 87.

A former teacher, school principal, town councillor, and long-serving parliamentarian in the NT Legislative Assembly, Ms Braham was also the first woman from Central Australia to be appointed to the Northern Territory cabinet, breaking significant ground for women in Territory public life.

Her daughter, Michelle, said Ms Braham died at home in Alice Springs, the town she had come to regard as home for more than six decades.

"It is with great sadness that I share that my beautiful mum, Loraine Braham, passed away at home this week. Mum was a proud Territorian who never wanted to leave Alice Springs," she wrote in a Facebook post.

Born in Bendigo, Victoria in 1938, Loraine Margaret Braham trained as a teacher at Melbourne Teachers' Training College before moving to the Northern Territory via South Australia with her husband Graeme in 1962.

After a short time spent in Andamooka, SA, the couple settled in Alice Springs, where she taught at Braitling Primary School and later became its principal, before moving on to become the first headmaster of Sadadeen Primary School in 1983. 

Her entry into politics followed community service as an alderman, as councillors were then called, on the Alice Springs Town Council.

In 1994, she was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly as the Country Liberal Party (CLP) member for Braitling, along with nine other new members that year.

"My mother was the first female member of the NT parliament for Central Australia, and that makes us all very proud," Michelle Braham said.

In 1997, she became the first woman to be elected speaker of the NT Legislative Assembly.

Two years later, she entered cabinet as the first female minister from Central Australia, taking on portfolios including housing and Aboriginal development. 

During her ministerial tenure, she was closely associated with major Territory infrastructure projects, including the Adelaide–Darwin railway and the Alice Springs Convention Centre.

Ms Braham's political career took a dramatic turn in 2001 when she was disendorsed by the CLP in an internal party dispute later dubbed the "Night of the Long Knives". Undeterred, she successfully recontested her seat as an independent.

Local historian Alex Nelson said Ms Braham was often underestimated by her opponents.

"She was seriously underestimated because she had an uncanny knack of coming in from nowhere to win a position," he said.

Following the closely fought 2001 election, the incoming Labor government invited Ms Braham to remain as speaker, a role she held until 2005.

"Typically, with conservative independent members in Alice Springs, their primary vote declines over consequent terms and for Loraine Braham, she narrowly retained her seat with the aid of preferences in 2004, and in the following term, leading up to 2008, she would have seen the writing on the wall, and decided to retire from politics in 2008," Mr Nelson said.