MARGARET of the AWABAKAL (c.1829-1894)
by Vicki Grieves
Little is known of the circumstances of Margaret’s
birth, her parentage and the fate of her forebears. As a child,
the Rev Lancelot Threlkeld had introduced her to Christianity
and English education at Bahtahbah Mission on the shores of Lake
Macquarie at present day Belmont. She retained some association
with him over her lifetime.
Margaret also had an association with the family
of Edward Hargreaves at Bungaree’s Norah, now known as Norah
Head and it is believed that she lived with the family in her
early years (Hunter District Historical Society [HDHS]). Her son
William Henry (also known as Buckhaun) and daughter Ellen were
baptised at the Hargreave residence in January 1860, by the Rev
Alfred Glennie of the Church of England. The ceremony was witnessed
by both Aboriginal and British people (Turner and Blyton 1995:44).
Margaret’s husband and father of her children,
Ned, was commonly known as “old Ned”. They were also
referred to as the Aboriginal King and Queen of the district.
It is not known how long they had been married when Margaret had
her first child Ellen in 1859, when approximately 30 years of
age. It is possible that she was in domestic service with the
Hargreaves for some time, delaying her marriage.
She is known for having been a fringedweller
of Swansea, with her husband Ned, “about half a mile south
of the Swansea Bridge and on the western side of the road”
and was known locally for being an “excellent” woman.
She was a diligent domestic worker, her home was “spotlessly
clean” and she was “most courteous” to visitors
(HDHS). She was also reported as a woman of “irreproachable
character”, who did not indulge in alcohol and had Christian
instruction, her daughter able to recite the Lord’s prayer
and the Creed (Shaw 1871).
Ned and Margaret were in possession of a garden
plot, pigs and poultry. Ned was a favourite guide for hunting
and fishing parties at Lake Macquarie and was considered “the
only native ever known to adopt civilised and domestic habits”
(Shaw 1871). Ned “a hard working, inoffensive old man”
maintained himself by collecting honey and wax, growing corn,
vegetables and tobacco and attending hunting parties on the lake
(Shaw 1871, HDHS). Margaret contributed significantly to the family
economy with domestic work in the neighbourhood. She was reportedly
a fine needlewoman, who made all the clothes for her family, and
made cabbage-tree hats, a particularly good source of income.
Ned’s blind and aged mother was living with them as well
as several children (Shaw 1871).
In 1871, the Newcastle Chronicle complained that
her family were threatened with the loss of their “squattage”
by a liberal land act and called for a government enquiry into
the matter. The Rev John Shaw of Scone quickly followed up with
reports of the validity of Ned and Margaret’s claim to this
land, he referred to as Naboth’s Vineyard, next to what is
now known as Margaret’s Bay. Shaw reported that Ned’s
home “was everything to him” and without it he would
be “something like a ruined man” losing proximity to
the lake and fish, cabbage tree, honey
and fresh water. He suggested that the Governor might intervene
as a “portion of his oath of office expresses that he will
protect the Aboriginal inhabitants of the country, and here is
a case where such protection is clearly required” (Shaw 1871).
All indications are that they were in fact forced off this land
and as the editor feared: a free settler was able to “reap
the benefit of [Ned’s and Margaret’s] labours”
(Newcastle Chronicle 1871).
There are reports of a reserve being set aside
for this family in 1871 in the proximity of what is now known
as Black Ned’s Bay (Nilsen 1985: 84) and they may have lived
there while Ned was alive. Ned died c. 1877 and was buried in
the ground marked off by The Australian Society of Patriots in
the Aboriginal reserve on the opposite side of the road from their
“old” home, at Naboth’s Vineyard (HDHS).
Mr James Hannell and others were advocates for
Margaret’s welfare in this period and requested the Minister
for Lands, Mr J S Farnell to secure land for her and the Minister
promised that Margaret would not be disturbed “even if the
land were selected”. Margaret was settled at Catherine Hill
Bay on land that was consequently selected by a Mr Talbot (Newcastle
Advocate 1879).
Margaret was living in a little hut with a garden
in early 1879 when men pulled her fence down and were going to
destroy the fruit trees “at the instance of Mr Talbot”
(Newcastle Advocate 1879). Mr Hannell then wrote to the Minister,
appraising him of the circumstances of the case, and requesting
protection:
*…for the poor old creature. It would be
an act of wanton cruelty to dispossess her of the small block
of land that she now occupies, especially when it is considered
that the whole of it was at one time the patrimony of her tribe:
and we therefore hope that Mr Hannell’s kindly interventions
will result in the way desired (Newcastle
Advocate 1879)
Talbot apparently hurt and feeling much maligned,
protested his innocence and claimed that the real villains were
connected to a miner’s lease taken up on his selection. Margaret
too wrote to the paper in support of him.
Thomas Hungerford, the local member of the New
South Wales Parliament was taken to visit Margaret by the local
councillor, Mr Fleming of Wickham. He found her residing where
she had been for some years, in a four roomed house built with
the aid of her now grown children, and earning a living from garden
produce and poultry. Mr Hungerford put her case for the land she
was living on to be “dedicated to her and her children for
life”. The Newcastle Morning Herald reported in March 1880
that he handed to them a letter from the NSW Secretary for Lands
approving of the reservation of 40 acres of land “for the
use of Margaret” (Newcastle Morning Herald 1880).
Margaret gave testimony at a magisterial hearing
before Mr Talbot JP at Swansea in 1894 after the accidental death
by burning of her seven year old great grand-daughter Lizzie Milton.
The child’s dress had caught alight from an outside fire.
Once again Margaret was fringedwelling at Swansea and her household
included at least Ellen’s children, Sarah and Willie, as
well as Sarah’s children. Clearly dispossessed and impoverished,
Margaret was in receipt of rations and clothing from the Aboriginal
Protection Board at this time. (Newcastle Morning Herald 1894).
Margaret died later that same year in Newcastle
Hospital from a long-term hydatid infestation of the liver and
lung. She was interred in the Primitive Methodist section of the
Sandgate Cemetery. She had been predeceased by her son Buckaun
in 18? though no detail remains of the circumstances. Her daughter
Ellen, mother of seven, died in 1902, eight years after her mother,
at the age of forty-two years, from starvation. Her last rites
were performed by the Church of England.
REFERENCES
"A Case for a Governmental Enquiry”
Newcastle Chronicle 2 September 1871
Boon Louise “The Last of Her Race”
Newcastle Morning Herald 6 February 1880
“Burning Fatality at Swansea” Newcastle
Morning Herald 18 July 1894
Hungerford Thomas MP letter to Newcastle Morning
Herald 20 March 1880
Nilsen Laurie (Ed) Lake Macquarie: Past and Present
Lake Macquarie City Council 1985
Hunter District Historical Society (HDHS) “When
the Blackman Ruled” newspaper and date unknown, Swansea Museum
“Margaret of Lake Macquarie” Newcastle
Morning Herald 20 March 1880
Shaw John Rev “Naboth’s Vineyard at
Lake Macquarie” letter to Newcastle Chronicle 7 September
1871
Talbot R F letter to Newcastle Advocate 24 April
1879
“The Last of her Race” Newcastle Advocate
18 April 1879
“The Old Aboriginal ‘Margaret’”
Newcastle Herald and Miner’s Advocate 20 February 1880
Turner John and Blyton Greg The Aboriginals of
Lake Macquarie: A Brief History Lake Macquarie City Council, 1995
|
