On the quiet bank of Goguljar Bilya (Avon River) above a deep, still pool, an old mudbrick building is gradually melting back into the earth. At some time in the past a fire ate through the wooden supports and the roof folded in, exposing the unfired walls to heavy Makuru (winter) rains. But the roof was also the lid of a box, and now the stories of the old building are beginning to rise up and out. This old building was once part of the Gerald Mission at Mile Pool which, between 1851 and 1854, took an unknown number of Noongar children and young adults from their Countries and families. Why were they taken? Who were they? What became of them? This presentation will explore some of the reasons behind the establishment of this mission, and its aims, and recount the stories of some of the Noongar children who were sent and stolen there.
Presenter Bio:
Janet is an anthropologist, archaeologist, and genealogist, and a current PhD candidate at UWA. She has a deep interest in the histories of invasion/colonisation in Western Australia, and especially in rediscovering and retelling personal, local stories through archival and family history research. Janet’s ancestors are ‘newcomers’ to Australia, arriving on ships to Fremantle and other colonial ports from June 1829 onwards, and she feels a personal connection to and responsibility for truth-telling in Western Australian history. Her current research on the mission institutions that operated on Noongar boodjar (Country) in the fifty years following 1829 is bringing forward hundreds of stories of dispossession, tragedy, conflict, tension, cooperation, friendship, perseverance, strength, and survival experienced between Noongar families, colonial government administrators, settlers, police, and missionaries.
