Mystery historic photos brings a family home
As we round out NAIDOC Week – a week-long celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, we caught up with our Business Analyst for Explosive Ordnance (EO) Services at Orchard Hills, Joanne Gregory. Her story is an incredible one, about a series of mystery photos taken in the 1800’s and found at auction in England in 2004 – photos that have led her to identify as one of our First Nations people. Here is how it all happened.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains images of people who have died.
In 2013, Joanne’s father received a phone call from the Grafton Gallery, a local art centre located not too far from where he was living at the time. The call was about a series of photos of local Aboriginal people taken by German photographer John William Lindt in 1873. The photos were an internationally acclaimed series of portraits; however, no names were kept of the subjects – all bar one. That name was Mary-Ann of Ulmarra.
The photos were initially discovered by Philanthropists, Sam and Janet Cullen, at an auction in the UK in 2004. Determined to return the portion of Aboriginal history to Australia, Sam and Janet purchased the photos immediately, and began a nine-year investigation working alongside local elders and historians to piece together who was in the portraits, and if they had any living ancestors.
“They dug into it and found that the tribe was from around Grafton,” Joanne says. “And they were able to trace who Mary-Ann of Ulmurra was, and as it turns out, she was an Aunty of my Grandfather. That’s how it all started for my family.”
Joanne says that throughout her life the family always suspected their First Nations heritage, but it was never spoken about.
“My Grandfather, Harold Arthur Cowan, actually took on the surname Williams when he was young,” she notes. “He had an accident when he was seven and went to stay with an Aunt whose married name was Williams. Her and her husband gave Harold the ‘Williams’ surname to keep him from being taken away in what we refer to now as ‘the stolen generation’. The Williams family never spoke about their Aboriginal heritage after that for fear of what would happen to them.
“My father never spoke about it, although I think he knew it was true. And then when the phone call came in 2013 he finally accepted his heritage. He became immensely proud of his First Nations history, and he got to meet family members we never knew we had. He passed away two years later and we’re all so happy he got to experience the joy this news brought him.”
For Joanne, the event has changed her life.
“I’m so proud of my heritage and all of the history that our people carry,” she smiles. “I went straight into my work information and marked down that I identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. I’ve applied to join the Land Council and am trying to gain official government recognition as being Aboriginal. That is a long, slow process but I won’t stop until that process is completed.”
Joanne says she actively engaged in the establishment of Thales Australia’s Reconciliation Action Plan and the Cultural Awareness training run by Aboriginal owned company Mirri Mirri. For this year’s NAIDOC Week Joanne is also engaged in the online session with Thales partners The Clontarf Foundation – an organisation that exists to improve the education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men.
“The Cullens, those elders and researchers, and the ABC who made a documentary about it and did a lot of the digging around, I have so much to thank them for,” Joanne says. “If it wasn’t for those photographs I would never have been on this journey, and would never have identified as Aboriginal. I’m so happy and proud now, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Vice President of Human Resources at Thales Ronan Carolan says stories like Joanne’s cements how important actions like Thales’ RAP launch and the partnership with the Clontarf Foundation are for the company’s employees.
“This is a fantastic story of a family finding their cultural heritage,” Ronan stated. “For Joanne to be able to identify as Aboriginal through Workday here at work and in the community is so important on a personal level. For Thales it is very satisfying to see we have a strong and diverse workforce, including members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and we will continue to engage with organisations like the Clontarf Foundation to help raise awareness for our First Nations people.”