By Chris Ingrey
I have often heard the saying “behind every strong man, is an even stronger woman”. In my experience with my community and the story of our ancestors, I often think “behind every strong woman, is an even stronger woman".
As an Aboriginal man greatly involved in my community at La Perouse in Sydney, I am often asked by government representatives and others familiar with La Perouse’s story “how did La Perouse Aboriginal community make the change?”
The question relates to the La Perouse’s effective implementation of its own empowerment and development agendas. In short, we took control of our own destiny through effective leadership and governance.
How did we do it? Strong women.
The majority of people and families who construct the La Perouse Aboriginal community are descendants of strong and resilient women of Coastal Sydney. This can be demonstrated by the leading role our senior women have played in our community over the years.
Old Queen Gooseberry Wife of Bungaree - South Australia Museum
In the early 1800’s Queen Gooseberry was described as the leader of the Sydney and Botany Tribe. Mahroot’s wife, whose name was never recorded, often ran his fishing business and property interests when he would visit the Illawarra. Birrayung, later known as Biddy Giles, ran tours of Aboriginal sites or guided hunting and fishing groups.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, anthropologists, journalists and linguists would often visit Botany Bay to record language and familial information from women such as Mrs Judson, Ellen Anderson, Kate Saunders (nee Sims), Queen Emma Timbery and others. These women recognised the importance of recording their knowledge as the world rapidly changed around them.
Throughout the 1930’s when Sydney was expanding, the then Randwick Municipal Council and the Aborigines Protection Board made three attempts to move people from La Perouse to places such as Kurnell, Wollongong and South West Sydney. The stories within the community and records show that “protests” by women and their families forced the Government to abandon their attempts.
Aboriginal people’s rights were fought for and protected by the likes of Mrs Muriel Stewart of La Perouse, the first Aboriginal person to be appointed a Justice of the Peace, and Mrs Linda Longbottom of La Perouse, who was elected to the lobby group known as the NSW Aboriginal Land Council to introduce land rights in NSW.
By mid 1980s, women of the La Perouse Aboriginal community began to express ‘concern and dismay at the continued misrepresentation of their ancestors’ lives in written history’. In order to combat this issue, they completed research and writing courses to skill and empower themselves to tell their stories from their own perspective. During the same time, these women began a community run childcare centre to ensure parents could work and our children had an effective start to their early learning.
This culture of strong female leadership continues to this day.
Marcia Ella-Duncan and Carrine Liddell meeting with former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at La Perouse.
As the Chief Executive of La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, I have had the pleasure of working with two truly impressive Chairpersons in Marcia Ella-Duncan and Noelene Timbery, who are descendants of Kate Saunders and Queen Emma Timbery respectively. The majority of the elected Boards of the Council over the past 13 years have been controlled by Aboriginal women of La Perouse. A Board member of the Council, Carrine Liddell (a descendant of Queen Emma), was the driving force behind the establishment of the La Perouse Youth Haven and the leadership program that is mentoring the next generation of leaders.
I could continue to recite past and current female leadership in our community, but I believe that it is sufficient to conclude by saying that without the strength, resilience and drive of our women, our community would not be what it is today.