Truth-telling from a neurodiverse perspective.

Excerpt from the ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONNECTION REPORT, Family history and contemporary connection evidence.

AWABAKAL AND GURlNGAI PEOPLE

NC20131002
NATALIE KWOK. CONSULTANT ANTHROPOLOGIST
OCTOBER 2015

There seems to be no evidence to substantiate claims made that Sophy was the daughter of Bungaree, nor any account of how this came to be known.

Charlotte Webb is understood by family members to have been the product of a rape upon young Sophie by old Webb. The is no evidence by which to determine whether that was true, however, there is information to say that Webb was closely associated with the local Aboriginal people.

lt was common, of course, for Aboriginal people to assume the surnames of white settlers with whom they or their families were involved, without any implication of a blood relationship. Webb had no recorded children and certainly did not include Charlotte as a beneficiary of his will.

The listing of Charlotte’s mother’s name on her death certificate as Sophia and the naming of her youngest daughter as Sophy, seem to concur, however, the purported inclusion of the name Sophy on the 1835 Brisbane Water return represents an error. This woman is definitely named Sally.
Keith Vincent Smith’s record that the name Sophy appears on a number of different returns has not been able to be confirmed or otherwise.

This information is not referenced in enough detail to relocate the records. There is no evidence at hand to link Sally with Charlotte and nothing to affirm that Charlotte was conceived as the result of a rape.

While some branches of the family say their Aboriginality was a known fact to them, the Smiths say that it was not something they were aware of but that on reflection there were certain incidents which seem telling.

Although their Aboriginality was not an important component of their identity they nevertheless maintained a significantly kin focused life and maintained contact with the extended family.

They were always in Wyong. Always messy. They were all related and really black. When they originally came here they lived in Warnervale (Cheryl Dudley pers.comm to N(, 1.6.l-5).

Although many of the families moved away descendants of Charlotte Webb continued to maintain connections to kin and to country through visiting the maintenance of holiday homes and perennial camping trips.

Tracey tells how white friends would be astounded at the licence that children in her family enjoyed and their capability in fishing and prawning.

and I know that we have got family members of our family that they don’t deny… but they don’t ..and it’s funny the language that you use and you’ve got to sort of choose your language carefully what you use because .. a lot of people say they don’t identify but they do identify, they will say yeah I am Aboriginal, I do have Aboriginal blood but they don’t, you know, like they’re like they don’t get involved in like land council and things like that… they just have a personal their own personal kind of connection thing and that’s ok …[not political and hey I can understand …like for me, l’m really glad that Uncle Warren did start the corporation and do what he did but there’s still a side of me that is begrudging that because I feel like l’ve lost a little bit of personal ownership of, you know what I mean, because before it was all mine and now I feel like l’m exposed and open for ridicule and that sort of thing and I don’t feel I should be subject to that, that anyone has the right to do that…

Like, I suppose it s like… a religion, you know what I mean, like you can be catholic but you don’t have to be go to church every Sunday to prove to the world that you’re Catholic. lt’s the same thing with Aboriginality you know. Like our family has always been so connected with our country and done all of these things and lived these particular lifestyles and felt that innate connection to the area and that sort of thing but we’re not about to go running down the street and flying an Aboriginal flag and that sort of thing, because it’s ours.

l’m Guringai mob, saltwater fella, stringray people.