Mum married an Aboriginal: Pat Eatock

Auntie Pat Eatock tells the story of her mother who came from Scotland in 1928 when she was 18. She began life as "a bit of a wildchild" and was very well educated. When Pat's mother married an Aboriginal man her family disowned her and over time she became "ground down". Her husband, having been told all his life that he was inferior for being Aboriginal and cut off from the support of his own people, felt threatened by his educated, white wife and coped by "proving that he was smarter than she was". "It was all very, very sad."

Keywords: Identity; childhood; daily life; racism

PLEASE NOTE

All the video recordings on this website were made at least a decade ago. Some are fifteen years old.

What the speakers say on camera was based on their own knowledge and researches at the time each video was made. Since then a great deal of information has come to hand which may make some of the information first recorded now outdated. Therefore please regard this website as a period piece presenting knowledge held and believed at the time of recording.