Betty Lockyer, author of War Baby, was born in 1942 in Beagle Bay, the cultural and traditional land of her grandmother, and her story touches on the Stolen Generations. She writes: 'The kids I grew up with at the mission, and later on at the orphanage in Broome, were like lost souls, plucked out from loved ones' arms, herded like cattle into holding yards and then dumped with strangers in a frightening environment'.
Betty Lockyer's personal achievements saw her summonsed for an audience before the Most Reverend Bishop Otto Raible. Over two years the Bishop personally sponsored Betty Lockyer's secondary schooling, 200 miles away in Perth. Lockyer was to only learn of this when she returned to Broome and the Bishop had returned home to Germany.
Betty Lockyer's autobiography Last Truck Out is an emotional account of Betty Lockyer's life that describes her early school years, as she witnessed children being forcibly removed from their families.
