Topics: People: North Coastal

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1862 - view

Death of Queen Gooseberry, at 78. Her father was from the southern Sydney area. After Bungaree’s death she has settled around Camp Cove with other displaced Aboriginal people. She wears a breast plate with her name on it. Wrapped in a blanket, her head covered by a scarf and with a clay pipe in her mouth, she is a familiar Sydney personality. Her grave is in the Presbyterian section of Botany Cemetery. “In memory of Gooseberry Queen of the Sydney Tribe of Aborigines”.

1863 - view

Clara Duggan, born 4 November 1863 at Wattle Flat, NSW. Esther’s daughter (William’s mother), descendants of Bowen.

1868 - view

Thomas Booker

1872 - view

Death recorded of Dickey (Bungaree) Sydney, age 27 years.

1875 - view

Billy Fawkner was a Koori servant of the Ward family in Brisbane Waters, who helped to raise the children. During the 1860s and 70s he would travel to Dural to sell oysters and fish. With the money he would buy tea, sugar, flour, tobacco and pipes from the general store. The poet Henry Kendall knew Billy and wrote about him. King Billy’s cave was about 2 kilometres south of Berowra Creek. His wife Sal is said to have lived in a nearby cave.

1880s - view

A well known Koori man, Tarpot lives in a cave at Mosman Bay above the ‘Barn’, the Scout Hall at Mosman Bay. He survives by catching fish and doing odd jobs for local people. He usually dresses in cast off naval uniforms and is still alive in 1888. He is at one time caretaker of the Milson family slaughterhouse at foot of Willoughby St in Slaughterhouse Bay (now Careening Cove). However, Mann describes him as a Maori, and may have been one of the boys brought by Samuel Marsden from New Zealand.

1880s - view

Mrs Benns (and husband Joseph Benns) are still living on Pittwater. She acts as midwife to all the families along the Hawkesbury River.

1880s - view

Marriage of Hannah Matilda Ashby to Henry Stanford Boyd. These descendants of Bungaree have many children including Jean Boyd and Matilda Ellen Boyd.

1880 - view

Turo Downs Aboriginal man comes from Queensland to live in Brisbane Waters at Hardy’s Bay. Turo became an employee of Captain Anderson. A great swimmer and runner, he impresses those who see him when he dives from the rocks at Kilcare Beach to emerge with a lobster. He is remembered as a gentleman, astute, polite, and with good English. He is buried at Kincumber Churchyard where a stone bears tribute “respected by all”. He dies in 1942 aged 86.

1880 - view

Biddy Lewis dies and is buried at Bar Island near Brooklyn.

1895 - view

Birth of William de Serve, a Guringai Koori farmer and fisherman on Barenjoey Peninsula.

1900s - view

Birth of Marie Robinson, daughter of Matilda Ellen, descendants of Bungaree and Matora. Jean Boyd marries Edward Smith. Their children include Reta Smith and Lynette Smith (Robley).

1920s - view

‘Black Lucy’ lives in Milling Street Gladesville until she dies in late 1920s. She is referred to by Europeans as the last (traditional) member of the Gamaraigal tribe and is buried in the Field of Mars Cemetery.

1924 - view

Bob Waterer is born in Bayview to Harriet Godbold and Albert Waterer a soldier born in England. Bob is Bungaree’s great great great grandson, Bob later lives in Brookvale and is a baker.

1938 - view

Indigenous leaders William Cooper, William Ferguson, Jack Patten and Pearl Gibbs declare Australia Day 26 January a “day of mourning”. The Aborigines Progressive Association publishes a manifesto ‘Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights’. Guringai and other Sydney peoples attend the public meetings in the city.

1940s - view

William de Serve, a Gai-mariagal man born on Barrenjoey, is living in several camps along the Hawkesbury River making a living by selling his fishing catch at Brooklyn. He is also known at Coal and Candle Creek and at Narrabeen.

1940s - view

Gai-mariagal people are living at Narrabeen Lakes on what is now the NSW Sports Centre. The community includes relatives of Dennis Foley. In the 1950s Dennis visits Narrabeen Lakes regularly with his uncles or his mother or grandmother, who lives at Curl Curl, bringing provisions like a bag of flour or a cake.

1950s - view

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families move into the Northern Beaches. Among them are Eddie Goodall, Clair Jackson and Nancy Hill Wood.

1950 - view

Dennis Foley a Gai-mariagal descendant is born. Today he continues the renewal of culture and cultural research.

1959 - view

FCAA and the Indigenous leader Pearl Gibbs (born in Botany) campaign for civil rights.