This family history brings to life the impact that white settlement had on the First Nations people in this case the Darug people who lived in and around the Blue Mountains areas near Katoomba and the Richmond Plains. In a series of short stories, we meet first Gombeeree, and his son the great leader Yarramundi and learn of their peaceful meeting with Governor Phillip. This peace is broken when white settlers move in on Darug land and fighting breaks out with many people killed on both sides. Peace was restored but the Darug people lost much of their land and became badly affected by diseases such as smallpox as well as by alcohol and the consumption of white man’s food.
Other stories tell of the opening of a school by Governor Macquarie at Parramatta for Indigenous children and of how Yarramundi’s daughter Maria became an outstanding student. In 1824, Maria married a second time to Robert Lock, a convict, the first official marriage between an Indigenous woman and a white man. As a wedding present Maria was granted five acres of land by Governor Darling. Maria was highly respected and worked hard to improve life for her community at Plumpton. Other stories tell of Maria’s daughter Ethel and the hard life she and her family had in the Gully an area of Katoomba where many Indigenous people were forced to move to after WW1 as the ravages of poverty and the Spanish flu devasted families. As a result, the government took back all the land that Maria Lock had owned at Plumpton.
Sadly in the 1950s, and without informing the residents, much of the Gully was destroyed to build a car racing track. The loss of the land was devastating for the Darug people who lived there. In 2002 the Gully was reclaimed and declared an Aboriginal Heritage area.
Author Lynette Stanger is a direct descendent of Gombeeree, Yarramundi and Maria Lock. At the end of the book, a family tree shows the direct lineage, revealing that these stories are her story.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
