AustLit

Doris Pilkington's Aboriginal name is Nugi Garimara and she was born on 'traditional birthing ground under the wintamarra tree' on Balfour Downs Station in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.

As a toddler, she was removed by authorities from her home at the station, together with her mother Molly Craig and her baby sister, Annabelle. They were sent to Moore River Native Settlement. Molly Craig walked back to Jigalong but was only able to carry baby Annabelle, leaving Doris at the Settlement. At eighteen, Doris left the mission system as the first of its members to qualify as a nursing aide at the Royal Perth Hospital. After marrying and raising a family, she studied journalism and worked in film and television production. In 2002, she was appointed Co-Patron of State and Federal Sorry Day Committee's Journey of Healing.

Doris Pilkington Garimara's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

In 2004, she was named a Western Australian State Living Treasure. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Red Ochre Award for outstanding lifelong contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts.

Glenys Collard was born in a wheatbelt town in the Southwest-east of Western Australia. She has 14 siblings and at the age of two was forcibly removed from her parents to live at Sister Kate's Children's Home along with three of her siblings. She suffered abuse at the home and in many of the families she was placed with for short-term stays.

Collard's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Carol Kendall was adopted into a loving non-Indigenous family at the age of twelve weeks and didn't discover her Aboriginal identity until she was 21. Kendall searched for her birth family through Link-Up and made contact with her large family after many years of indecision and turmoil. Kendall subsequently worked for Link-Up and played an active role in the community.

Kendall's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

While still a baby, Ruth's family moved to the Cherbourg Settlement. At the age of four, Ruth, along with her sister, was separated from the rest of the family and confined to dormitory accommodation until she was fourteen. After working for many years in domestic service, Hegarty married Joe Hegarty and raised a family of eight children.

Ruth Hegarty was a founding member of Koobara Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Resource Centre, president of the Brisbane respite centre Nalingu and has for many years been involved on a volunteer basis with projects for the young and the elderly. In 1998, she was awarded the Premier's Award for Queensland Seniors Year, for services to the community. In 1999, she served as the Queensland representative on the National Committee for the International year of Older Persons. In 2007, she was a member of the Queensland Stolen Wages Working Group for the Senate enquiry into stolen wages of Aboriginal workers.

Hegarty's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Her two autobiographies appeared in 1999 and 2003. After a hiatus, she returned to publishing in 2015 with a series of children's books published by Scholastic Australia.

Syd Jackson is a member of the Stolen Generations. He was removed from his family along with two sisters and sent to Roelands Mission while his sisters were sent elsewhere. Jackson became well known as a champion professional football player with the Carlton Football Club. In 1966 he was reunited with his sister, and met his father again in 1985.

Jackson's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Dodd's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Bowden's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

At the age of five, Donna Meehan was taken away from her Aboriginal parents in Coonamble and put on a train with her four brothers for a sixteen hour trip to Newcastle. Meehan's mother lost seven of her children within three months and Donna was sent to a white foster family in Newcastle who later adopted her. She was was not reunited with her mother until twenty three years later. Meehan, a community programs officer with the Department of Community Services, writes autobiographical narratives.

Meehan's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Doris Kartinyeri was born to Ngarrindjeri parents at Raukkan, which was then known as Point McLeay, on Lake Alexandrina, South Australia. Her mother died when she was four weeks old, and Doris was taken by the Aboriginal Protection Board without her father's consent, a 'stolen child', to be brought up in Colebrook Home until at the age of fourteen she was put into domestic service.

As an adult, and after having three children of her own, Kartinyeri began to explore her family background, and became active on behalf of her community. The story of her struggle to find her identity is told in her biography Kick the Tin.

Her children's book, Bush Games and Knucklebones, gives an insight into what life was like growing up in a children's home in the 1950s, and celebrates the friendships she formed at Colebrook,with the children bonding to become their own special type of family.

Kartinyeri's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Morcom's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Simon's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Japarta's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Marjorie Woodrow was born on Keewrong Station in New South Wales. Through her mother line she is a Barkindji woman. Woodrow grew up at Griffith until she was nine years of age. She then went back onto Keewrong Station. At about the age of thirteen, Woodrow was sent to Cootamundra Girls' Home for allegedly stealing a pair of stockings and later to the Girls' Industrial School in Parramatta.

She married and had eight children. When she was about seventy years old, Woodrow was reunited with her mother through Link-Up and was able to spend a short amount of time with her before her mother's death.

Woodrow's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation (q.v.) edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (q.q.v.) (2002).

Singer, songwriter, teacher and activist, Bob Randall was born at Middleton Pond on Tempe Station in the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory. He is a traditional owner of the Uluru lands and a former Indigenous Person of the Year. His mother, Tanguawa, worked as a housemaid at Angus Downs cattle station for Randall's father, station owner Bill Liddle. Randall and his mother lived away from the main house with their extended family and he had little contact with his Scotsman father. He was taken away from his mother at the age of seven in Arnhem Land - another member of the stolen generation. He spent time in an Alice Springs institution for children, and at the Croker Island Reservation in Arnhem Land thousands of kilometres from home and family, and he was given a new identity and birth date. Randall had spent most of his youth in government institutions until he turned twenty, when he with his wife and child moved to Darwin, and later to Adelaide, South Australia. It was in Adelaide, that Randall established his career as an Aboriginal Cultural educator, and began looking for his family and his traditional country.

In 1970, Randall helped establish the Adelaide Community College for Aboriginal people and lectured at the college on Aboriginal cultures. He is well known for writing what some consider the anthem of the stolen generation, 'My Brown Skinned Baby'. Randall had appeared in the documentary films by John Pilger and had roles in the movies Picnic at Hanging Rockand The Last Wave. In 2005, with film maker Melanie Hogan, Randall had produced documentary Kanyini about his life story.

Randall's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Randall had served as the Director of the Northern Australia Legal Aid Service and established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander centres at the Australian National University, University of Canberra and University of Wollongong. (Source: Adapted from 'Songs Tell the Story of an Amazing Life', National Library of Australia, Gateways 46, August 2000)

Trevor Deshong was removed by police from his mother's family home at Prosperine in northern Queensland when was three months old. On the run from an institution in Brisbane, he found himself at Mackay train station where he met his mother although neither of them knew the relationship at the time. It would be the only time he would meet his mother.

Deshong's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Sue Gordon was removed from her mother on Mount Augustus Station in the Murchison region at the age of four years and sent to Sister Kate's Home in Perth. Gordon joined the Army after leaving the Home. She was told she had no family, but was later reunited with many family members.

In 1986, Sue Gordon was appointed Commissioner for Aboriginal Planning - the first Aboriginal Government Department Head in Western Australia. Gordon has also served as ATSIC Commissioner, and Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commercial Development Corporation and magistrate in Perth Children's Court.

Gordon's experiences as a member of the Stolen Generations were recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Rita May Wenberg was removed from her family at an early age and sent to Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Home in Sydney, and then to Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home. Wenberg worked in houses in the Cootamundra district. At the age of sixteen Wenberg left to go to Sydney but was sent to Parramatta Girls' Home, then to another Home before going to work near Camden.

Wenberg's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Moseley's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Ken Colbung MBE, JP, OAM, has been a respected Nyoongar Elder of the Bibbulmun people. Colbung has been an active campaigner for the recognition of cultural and human rights for Aboriginal people nationally and was originally involved in the Black Power Movement of the 1960s in Australia.

Colbung was born at Moore River Native Settlement. After his mother died when he was six, he was removed from his family and sent to Sister Kate's Home. Colbung worked on farms before joining the Army at nineteen serving for fifteen years during which time he saw active service in the Korean War and rose to the rank of Sergeant.

After the Army, Colbung became involved in Aboriginal politics and worked in New South Wales, Canberra and Western Australia.

Colbung was the founding Chairperson of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, member and Chairperson of the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee, WA, and Chairperson of the WA Aboriginal Lands Trust. He was elected Council member and first Indigenous Chairperson of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Colbung was also the driving force behind the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, which came into force in 1972. He also played a key role in retrieving the remains of 19th Century Nyoongar warrior Yagan from Britain in 1998.

Colbung was interviewed and recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

McGee-Sippel poet and best-selling author is of Aboriginal Wemba Wemba, Aboriginal Yorta Yorta and Anglo Celtic background . She was separated from her Aboriginal mother shortly after birth and was adopted at six weeks of age by a non-Indigenous family. Her writing is in response to the pain she felt from not knowing her family and true cultural identity. She met her biological mother and family for the first time in 1981.

A registered nurse and midwife McGee-Sippel was caring for relinquishing mothers and those with sick, premature and stillborn babies at St Margaret's Women's Hospital, Darlinghurst, Sydney, while searching for her own mother. Following the untimely death of a much loved younger sister, in 1991, and a series of close family deaths, her words began pouring out, in the form of poetry.

Needing a career change and wanting to learn more about her cultural roots, Lorraine decided to do an Associate Diploma in Adult Education (Koori Education) 1992/3 at the University of Technology (UTS), Sydney. In 1994, she began a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, majoring in Aboriginal Studies and Writing, but the need to write her own story was strong, so in 1995 she left the University of Technology and began writing her autobiography, as well as becoming involved with Aboriginal Reconciliation, human rights and social justice issues.

McGree-Sippel was co-founder of Lane Cove Residents for Reconciliation, She has read her work at the State Library of New South Wales, the New South Wales Writers' Centre, Reconciliation meetings and various community gatherings, as well as on Koori Radio, (93.7 FM), and AWAYE (Radio National). In 2001, her manuscript/autobiography, 'The Best Part' was shorlisted for The Varuna Awards For Manuscript Development.

McGee-Sippel's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Dr Doreen Kartinyeri was born at Raukkan (also known as the Point McLeay Mission). She was removed from her family in 1945 and sent to the Salvation Army Home in Adelaide. Kartinyeri worked as a domestic for two years from 1949-1951, then returned home to her grandmother.

Dr Kartinyeri began her academic career in the Geography Department of the University of Adelaide in 1979. She worked with the South Australian Museum and helped establish the Aboriginal Family History Project.

During 2001, Kartinyeri was prominent in the public campaign to protect South Australia's Hindmarsh Island from the construction of a bridge. As a senior member of the Ngarrindjeri people, she argued that the bridge would interfere with the secret women's business of Hindmarsh Island.

Kartinyeri wrote a number of works on Aboriginal family history and genealogy. She is the older sister of Doris Kartinyeri (q.v.)

Dr Kartinyeri's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Pattie Lees was removed from her family, along with four siblings, when she was ten years, and sent to live on Palm Island. Her brother, who was eleven at the time, protested and for his resistance he was handcuffed and taken.

Lees' story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation; edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Ogilvie's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Wilson's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Hart's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Miller's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Mary Terszak was born at Moore River Native Settlement, the daughter of Gyce Woods and Elizabeth Clare Woods (nee Khan). Terszak was removed from her family's care at Carrolup Mission in 1944, at the age of two, and sent to Sister Kate's Children's Home where she lived until 1962 except for time spent at Home of the Good Shepherd - a girls' reformatory - circa 1953-1954. Terszak was only reunited with her mother and other family members in 1989.

Terszak holds a Master of Arts in Indigenous Research and Development from Curtin University.

Her story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002) and she has published exerpts from her diaries as well as reflections on her life as a member of the Stolen Generations in the book Orphaned by the Colour of My Skin.

Marshall's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Robert Isaacs was removed from his family and placed in the Clontarf Boys Town Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers. He later returned as Chair of the Board of Management.

Isaacs is an Elder of the Bibulmum people and has worked in senior appointments in the Western Australian Department of Housing.

Isaacs' story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Clara Coulthard was born on Lilla Creek Station in the Northern Territory but was removed from her family in 1934. Coulthard was first sent to the United Aborigines Mission at Oodnadatta, then to Colebrook Home located at first in Quorn in regional South Australia and then relocated to Eden Hills in suburban Adelaide.

Although she never saw her mother again, in 1974 Coulthard met her grandfather. Coulthard trained as a teacher and was instrumental in the establishment of Indigenous rangers in national parks.

Coulthard has been an active member of the South Australian Aboriginal Elders' Council.

Coulthard's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Lance Riley was born at Mona Mona Aboriginal Reserve in North Queensland. When he was separated from his family at the age of five, Riley was taken to Mona Mona Mission and later sent to Palm Island. Riley is an Elder of the Kuku Yalanji language area and tribal clan group Wulburra (Western Yalanji). Riley has served as Regional Councillor for ATSIC and Manager of Mayi Wunba Cultural Dance Theatre.

Riley's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Kunyi (June Anne) McInerney is a much-exhibited artist and book illustrator, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Aboriginal Studies.

She was born at Todmorden Station, north of Oodnadatta in South Australia. Her artwork has featured in many exhibitions in Queensland and South Australia. She and her seven siblings were removed from their family and sent to United Aborigines Mission Home in Oodnadatta and then to various foster and adoptive care arrangements in Adelaide.

McInerney's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

The Reverend Sidney Graham was removed from his family at the age of three and sent into institutional care, perhaps because of a disabled right leg. Graham was placed into many Homes including Colebrook Home at Eden Hills, the Salvation Army Boys' Home at Kent Town and Estcourt House at Grange. Graham has served as an Anglican minister.

Graham's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Penny Everaardt's mother died when Everaardt was an infant. Everaardt was separated from her father and sent to Cootamundra Girls' Home, the same institution her mother had been sent to as a girl. Everaardt worked as a domestic after her time in the Home and began training to be a nurse but was refused because of her Aboriginality.

Everaardt's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Wood's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).