AustLit

'Frederick William Bell VC was born in Western Australia in 1875 and died Bristol, England in 1954. In 1899 Australia was six self-governed colonies when Paul Kruger, the President of Transvaal Republic, declared war on Great Britain and the call went out to the Colonies to join Mother England in South Africa. Frederick Bell was among the first to enlist and was awarded the Victoria Cross at the battle of Brakpan in May 1901. Frederick Bell joined the British Colonial Office in 1905 and served fifteen years in Africa. During WW1 he fought in the British Army in France and was later the Commander of an army recuperation camp in England where he was promoted to Lieut. Colonel. He was given 'voluntary retirement' from the Colonial Office in 1925 after giving unpopular evidence to a Kenyan Commission of Inquiry. (Source: Back cover)

'Yagan Square in Central Perth recognises Yagan, the son of Midgegooroo, the leader of the Beeliar tribe, a territory of the southern side of the Canning River and within the greater metropolitan area. He was born about 1800 but remembered only for his brief interaction with the British settlers who began taking up land at the Swan River in 1829. Yagan's recorded history is limited to the years 1831 to 1833. After his death his preserved head was taken to England in 1834. In the 20th century a search for Yagan's skull was undertaken and its discovery and triumphant return to Western Australia.' (Source: TROVE)

'Oombulgurri emerged from the remnants of Forrest River Mission to become one of the first independent Indigenous communities in Australia. During its 97 years its people have participated in events that captured national headlines; the search for the Southern Cross, the rescue of the crew of a German seaplane, reports of a massacre that sparked a Royal Commission, their service as guides to an elite military force preparing for the anticipated Japanese invasion of Australia and, in recent years, the community’s decline into poverty, depression and suicide. Sixty percent of the school children of 1967 are now dead. The missionaries and most of those they served are gone and so too is the lifestyle of that not so distant past, but in these pages we discover how church and government policies and failures shaped the present and the small achievements of Aboriginal people are soon lost in yet another wave of policies and practices that are presumed to be good for ‘them’.' (Source: Publishers website)

'Far From Home identifies more than 3,600 Aboriginal prisoners who served time on Rottnest Island. Some were associated with historic events such as the Battle of Pinjarra (1834), the Flying Foam massacre (1868), the Jandamarra uprising in the Kimberley (1892-1894) and the Forrest River Massacre (1926). Some travelled with the explorers John Forrest and Francis Gregory, and others, while on parole, served on the frontiers as police assistance, pearl divers and guides for the telegraph surveys.

Accompanying the biographical listing of prisoners is a historical account of the Rottnest establishment and prison life, describing the experiences of men who were separated from their families and sent to a cold and dreary island off the coast of Western Australia. For more than 370 it was a one-way journey, and today, denied the recognition they deserve, they lie in unmarked graves far from home.' (Source: back cover)