Fanny Balbuk Yooreel
Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter CULTURAL WARNING Please be aware this booklet includes images and names of people that may cause sadness or distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
FRONT COVER IMAGE Ryan Presley Blood Money – 50 Dollar Note – Fanny Balbuk Commemorative 2011, watercolour on arches paper, 102 cm x 70 cm Murdoch University Art Collection. Purchased 2011 Photographed by Eva Fernandez Ryan Presley’s 2011 series ‘Blood Money’ commemorative banknotes substitutes the heroes of the white Australian culture with Aboriginal heroes and resistance fighters including Fanny Balbuk Yooreel
EDITED BY GINA PICKERING Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Perth, Dessein, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-646-97164-3
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel: Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter is supported by Lotterywest
National Trust WESTERN AUSTRALIA
ii | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter IRENE S TAIN TO N, Ch a ir A b o r ig i n a l
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i s Foreword o
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t The National Trust of Western Australia welcomes the opportunity to share e
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a the extraordinary life of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel. This passionate Whadjuk yorga
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l (woman) lived through the British colonisation of Perth during the 19th T
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The Granddaughter of Mooro leader Yellagonga and niece an education pack has been produced for children, a of Yagan, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was connected to documentary launched on YouTube and this interesting community on both sides of the Debarl Yerrigan/Swan booklet being made freely available as a download. In River. Her legacy as a Perth resistance fighter can be traced addition, an academic symposium will explore the through her commitment to the environment, the emotional legacy of Fanny Balbuk on an international sourcing of traditional foods from the landscape, her family stage. and friends. In my view, it is about ensuring the stories of women are During the relentless development of Perth, Fanny Balbuk treasured. For many years, there have been stories about Yooreel demanded her traditional rights, while sustaining our menfolk, including stories around Yagan and the work important friendships with the newly arrived settlers. Her he was doing to bring the new settlers together with the knowledge of Whadjuk country, informed the Noongar Traditional Owners. However, we have not had the same Native Title claim of 2006, which upheld Native Title stories around our heroic women, who did many of the determination in the Perth metropolitan area. same sorts of things and it is time we did. 2017 marks the 110th anniversary of her passing and with This project is important because it raises the profile of this anniversary come refreshing new ways to understand women. It is also important because it has brought this daring woman and her environment. organisations together in partnership and in a collaborative Perth’s Elders have expressed their respect, insights and way. This project may also elevate the status of women by knowledge about this important woman for the first time, in highlighting those important stories about Fanny Balbuk making powerful public statements. Quilters have created Yooreel and bringing to life a history, which people have an emotional response to Fanny Balbuk Yooreel and her not previously known. country in a moving exhibition. Perth’s community has walked her path through the city detailed in a new map;
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 1 Introduction
BELOW: Fanny B Fanny Balbuk Yooreel, a traditional Swan River woman, was born around 1840 and died on the 20th March 1907.
She lived through the dramatic colonisation of Perth in the Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was a prominent woman in the Swan 19th century and resisted changes to her home land which River’s first families. Her grandfather was Mooro leader prevented her collecting food, accessing her country and Yellagonga, her uncle was warrior Yagan and his father living her culture. Colonisation descended on to her Midgegooroo was her great uncle. country, took the lives of her extended family and Contemporary documents refer to her grandmother disenfranchised her community. Moorgurngul’s burial in the grounds of Government Known for her impassioned actions and high profile House, her grandmother Yabben was buried further west amongst the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community of along what is now St Georges Terrace, her great-great- her time, she protested loudly at the gates of Government grandfather was buried near Perth’s oldest gaol and a House and knocked down fence palings with her wanna great uncle where the Deanery now stands in Perth’s main stick in a bid to continue her traditional practices on what street. Her father Coondebung perished as a prisoner on was fast becoming the landscape of a burgeoning British Wadjemup/Rottnest Island. colony. Her knowledge of Whadjuk country, recorded by self- taught anthropologist Daisy Bates in the early 1900s, informed the 2006 Noongar Native Title claim, where it was upheld that Native Title rights exist in the Perth metropolitan area. However, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel also highlights difficulties in getting to know Perth’s original women. Incomplete documents, accounts of her life, newspaper reports, police occurrence books, the courts and diaries are just part of her story. 2017 marked the 110th anniversary of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s death and a year in which extensive interviews of seldom heard Elder women were recorded and people from different walks of life came together to hear Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s voice and story.
ABOVE: A group portrait of Noongar men, women and children and including Fanny Balbuk Yooreel in the front row, to the right, and wearing a white dress. State Library of Western Australia 253420PD
2 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter MARI ng Elder E TA ardo YLO all R k B , W ju h d a a d h j u , W k E B R a I U ll a G r d C o M
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She knew every rock hole; she sustained their families by gathering and preparing these foods. Fanny knew every stream. She knew maintained her traditional rights in the every sacred site - where it was - midst of great change. and that stuff was taught to her as Drainage had already begun when a little girl. And you don’t forget things Perth’s second town plan was published in that are taught to you when you are small. 1838 showing the town expanding through the lakes, wetlands and swamps. Perth Railway Station, built in 1881, is constructed over wetlands that were a key source of food collected by Fanny She used to go over the back of the hill to the and generations of Noongar women. Known to the lakes on the other side and that’s where she colonists as Lake Kingsford the area was drained in the would get her jilgies and duck eggs and duck 1840s as part of a broader policy to alleviate flooding in the colony and as part of ongoing expansion and and stuff and that was her food and she had development. This is the place that Fanny gathered eggs no one to get her food for her cause there was and caught turtles and crayfish. no fridge... we didn’t have fridges in those days; Further south along what became St Georges Terrace, she things were killed and hung up straight away gathered zamia fruit. Noongar women for generations had or used straight away.
ABOVE: Map Loc 1 1881 Perth Railway Station, where lake Kingsford was drained. City of Perth ABOVE: Forrest Place 2017. G Pickering
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 3 There were trees being cut down, there were strange animals being brought here and run through the bush which damaged the bush and turned upside down her totemic areas.
ABOVE: 1838 Plan of Perth SRO series235_cons3868_item288
And down here on Whadjuk country, the male totem is the kangaroo in Yonga and female Kangaroo is Waar and she would have found the changes to them being removed from her community devastating.
MARIE TAYL OR , W h ad ju k B a l la r d o n g
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RIGHT: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel at Perth Zoo in 1901, (right) she was 61 years of age. State Library of Western Australia 025341PD
4 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter ng Elder rdo lla Ba k ju d a h W , S T T A E
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O D From the moment the first sod was turned My grandmother was born in the Perth swamp which became the in 1833 and she said to me railway station, Balbuk was at war. the troopers would shoot them and kill them. So Fanny Balbuk Daisy Bates | The Chronicle, 5 August 1937 was very brave - she was brave to go where she went and told them off.
I tried to put myself in her shoes many times, and I think I would be frustrated too when I She raged and stormed at the usurping knew I was able to do something and then of her beloved home ground….Through everything was shut off from me and I couldn’t fences and over them, Balbuk took the have the freedom to do what I used to do. straight track to the end. When a house Admittedly the Noongar people of this city was built in the way, she broke its fence- were the most affected people in this state by palings with her digging stick and charged colonisation. She is a shining light in my eyes up the steps and through the rooms. and she knew where she had to walk and if Daisy Bates | The passing of the aborigines: a lifetime spent there was a gate in the way she walked among the natives of Australia, 1938 through it and if a house was stuck in the BEV POR T-L road she went through that as well. OU IS , W h a d ju k Y u e d
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RIGHT: Missing and marked fence palings in Hay Street looking west c 1880s. City of Perth
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 5 ABOVE: AN17/Perth Cons1386Item138
She lived among colonisation, she worked for Fanny Balbuk Yooreel appeared in newspaper accounts, them, she was a shepherd for Walter Padbury. police and court records. The earliest time she appears in a police occurrence book is April 14 1862. She was She resisted a lot of their way of life...but she remanded for two days for being drunk and disorderly. did get accustomed to beer. She was an ong El allard der k B alcoholic... maybe after a day’s work they’d give dju ha , W her a bottle of beer or a bottle of wine...but she R A M did become an alcoholic Balbuk did. IN W H C I
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6 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Fanny was fined or imprisoned several times by the colonial courts. In one case Fanny asserts that Mr Liddelow will pay her fine. Liddelow Butcher was established by John Please allow me till twelve o’clock to get the fine. Liddelow on the corner of Barrack and Murray My master Mr Liddelow will pay it. Streets. He also had a slaughterhouse on the banks of the Canning River, not far from the (The West Australian, Wednesday 27 May 1885, page 3) location of the Maamba/Welshpool Native Reserve, where Fanny was living in the early 1900s.
ABOVE: 1880s Barrack Street Perth looking north to Beaufort Street. Liddelow Butcher is on the left in the foreground. City of Perth
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 7 ABOVE: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s mark when she appeared as a witness in the Supreme Court Criminal Sittings, 7 January 1885. Series122Cons3473Item126Caseno1096
8 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter ong Elder ard all k B ju ad h W , N A R One of her favourite annoyances was to stand at the gates of R A Y
Government House, reviling all who dwelt within, because the S Y
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E stone gates guarded by a sentry enclosed her grandmother’s L burial ground. G Daisy Bates | The passing of the Aborigines: A lifetime Spent Among the Natives of Australia, 1938
Fanny would protest at the gates of Government House Well I can’t do anything about it cursing those within while a substantial fence kept her out. now but at the time if they knew, people should not have built a building on Well, Fanny Balbuk was related to Yagan and Aboriginal people who were buried there. Midgegooroo. Strong men like that would have given her the strength and she wasn’t The changes to Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s traditional afraid because she’d seen the strength in them. landscape had great personal impact. Contemporary and She knew she had to stand up and be strong colonial documents show her family members are buried in what is now the Perth CBD. Wilya Wilya a great-great- for the women and to be an example of the grandfather was buried near the old Perth Gaol, her great young people to follow. uncle Midgegooroo at the Deanery and her grandmother Yabben at the western end of St Georges Terrace and her other grandmother, Moojurngul, in the grounds of Government House, a registered Aboriginal site.
OOLAN D LEISH A E AT TS , W h a d ju k B a l l a r d
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Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 9 ABOVE: Government House under construction 1862. State Library of Western Australia 6293B.14
10 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter ABOVE: Government House viewed from St Georges Terrace 1862. State Library of Western Australia 6293B.48
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 11 ong El allard der k B dju ha , W R O L Y But she courageously stood up and not fought as we know how to A T E I fight, but stood up in ways that made people call her a trouble R A maker. When in fact she wasn’t a trouble maker, she was a female M warrior for her people.
She lived through a time described as ‘the most wretched chapter in the history of black-white relations in Western Australian history.’ CT Stannage | The People of Perth, 1979
LEFT: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel. State Library of Western Australia 253420PD BACKGROUND: Series122Cons3473Item126Caseno1096
12 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Later life
Irish born Daisy Bates working as a journalist and self- trained anthropologist in Perth in the early twentieth century met Fanny and began recording her cultural knowledge. Daisy Bates invited Fanny to the Bon Ton Café during one of their walks through the city, recounting that Fanny replied:
Nobody will let Balbuk come inside their white mias. Daisy Bates | Western Mail, Thursday 18 April 1935, page 9
But they did take tea together and two plates of cakes were consumed.
She had a quality at that time that is not highlighted among many women and that was the ability to make friends among the white people. Because of her knowledge of how to make friends with people, that friendship never broke. ... those friends were there for her. MARIE TAYLOR, Whadjuk Ballardong Elder
RIGHT: Bon Ton Cafés. The Cyclopedia of Western Australia
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 13 In 1903, the Chief Protector of Aborigines Henry Prinsep moved elderly Noongar people to Maamba/Welshpool Native Reserve. Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was among the residents and lived at the Reserve for remaining years. With Daisy Bates as her scribe, Fanny wrote a heartfelt letter to her son Joe Donnelly who lived in Onslow.
RIGHT: The text of the letter sent to Joe Donnelly, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s son. National Library of Australia MS365/61/50 ABOVE: The original hand written letter in pencil is over two pages in length. National Library of Australia. MS365/61/249
14 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter ABOVE: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel spent her last years at Maamba/ Welshpool Native Reserve c1905. State Library of Western Australia BA1423_147
She lived up in the hills, Maamba, she lived there with INDICH W RESA INM Joobaitch and the last of the natives. Joobaitch’s children HE AR T , W h ad were taken to New Norcia. Even Kianga’s children were ju k B a taken to New Norcia. So, most of the children were handed l la r d o over to Salvado for protection and to learn the English way n g
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Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 15 ongar Elde k No r dju ha W E, IR U G C M Y A
M It is tough when you are taken away ... She was taken from here to be put out at Welshpool ... She was taken away from her part of the land where she lived and that she loved, and a lot of our people — if they are taken away from their birthright — they tend to dwindle and not live very long.
When she lay dying in her mia at Maamba, a warr, the female kangaroo of her totem, suddenly made its appearance among the bushes about a hundred yards away. With dimmed eyes she looked upon it. My borungur has come for me, I go now, she said. She died a few days later in Perth Hospital. Daisy Bates | The Adelaide Advertiser, Saturday 18 January 1936 GLENYS Y ARR AN , W h a d ju k N o o n g a Well I feel bad for that because I was brought up on a reserve r
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e too in Northam and we just lived in camps... the white people
r said she had knowledge and that she ended up in a reserve is very sad.
16 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Passing on
After lunch H went to see old Fanny in hospital she was very ill, so he took her old husband Doolby to see her. ABOVE: The Royal Perth Hospital administration building (M Block) looking east up Goderich (Murray) Street, showing Diary of Henry Prinsep, 19 March 1907 the street planting, circa 1906. Royal Perth Hospital Museum State Library of Western Australia 2882A/23 typescript
The Colonial Hospital was established on the corner of Murray St and Victoria Square in 1855. It was here that Fanny Balbuk Yooreel died on 20th March 1907. The cause of her death is recorded as cardiac failure. Her husband Doolby was by her side. She was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery on 21st March 1907 in a pauper’s grave.
ABOVE: Colonial Hospital Records 1907. G Pickering
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 17 ong El allard der k B dju ha , W R Old Fanny buried and a number of natives in – O L Y A including Doolby her husband. T E I R A
Mrs Bates actually telephoned to H asking for her skull! M Of course he scouted the idea. Diary of Henry Prinsep, 19 March 1907 State Library of Western Australia 2882A/23 typescript
Thankfully there were people who stood up and fought for her to be buried in her homelands in one piece.
Mrs Bates, Dear Madam. I must thank you very much for your most interesting letter and also for the Western Mail with IREN E STA INT ON the photo and account of the lady. I hope you may be , Ch a ir successful in getting hold of the skull some time or other. A b o r Royal Anthropological Institute, 3, Hanover Square. W. 27 July 1907 ig i n a l
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o Fortunately in today’s society a lot has changed. When you think
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i l u s a r t BACKGROUND: Diary of Henry Prinsep, January - December 1907. State Library of Western Australia 2882A/23
18 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Voices
Varied accounts offer different understandings about Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s life. Daisy Bates famously named her “the last Swan River (Female) Native”, but this was not the case. The Whadjuk Noongar community pay respect to their elders past and present and continue to practice their values, customs and beliefs on these lands.
ng Elder rdo lla Ba k ju d a She was born here, her mother and father occupied this place, h W , R her grandfather Yellagonga, they occupied this place. A M N I
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My name is Theresa Indich Winmar ... My mother Mary Therese Indich, H C
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a local from Perth Swan River. My father is Lewis Winmar, a local from I
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Jerramungup and Ballardong country and I enjoy living here in Perth. E
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H This is my home, this is my country, this is my mother’s country. T
M ARIE T AYL OR , W h a d ju She stood alongside of her uncles and she made sure the k B a l knowledge that she had was used in such a way that people l a r d o showed respect to that knowledge, and it is that knowledge n
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Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 19 k Yued Elder adju Wh S, UI O -L T R O P Here’s a woman who’s done equally good as Yagan has done V E ... she was a female warrior whereas he was a male warrior. B
MAY M CGU IRE , W h ad ju k B a l la r d o n g
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l d e I think it’s very important to r know about old Granny Fanny because she was a great matriarch back in her family back then and even though we are a much younger generation we are still thinking of her as a living person really. She was always a hero in our eyes for us women.
RIGHT: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel at Perth Zoo in 1901, she was 61 years of age. State Library of Western Australia 025341PD
20 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter wer tervie , In TT KE IC K Y E S A Legacy C
With the theme ‘Having a Voice’, the 2017 Australian I knew Fanny was quite a resilient Heritage Festival marked the 50th anniversary of the woman and in my thoughts a referendum that voted in favour of recognising Aboriginal resistance fighter. It’s been interesting people in the census. Supported by Lotterywest, the to find out the personal connections National Trust of Western Australia invited Perth’s senior and the impact Fanny has had on Noongar Elders to share their knowledge and Noongar women especially the Elder understanding of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel. Extensive women which means a lot to me as a interviews were undertaken for this project with Noongar younger Noongar woman. researcher Casey Kickett. The interviews revealed powerful feelings, perspectives and community knowledge that I’ve learnt so much from listening to the Elders. They all Noongar women continue to hold for Fanny and her have personal stories about Fanny which you don’t hear actions. The interviews have contributed to a half-hour about in the records but which I feel hold more meaning and documentary on Fanny Balbuk Yooreel that was central to hold more heart. You can hear when the women speak, they two public talks in Perth during the 110th anniversary year are very proud and respectful and want the story of Fanny to of her passing. be understood and carried on.
LEFT: Doolan Leisha Eatts and Marie Taylor prepare for interview sessions at the National Trust offices in West Perth. G Pickering
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 21 In Perth’s streets, Elder Marie Taylor led community members on the inaugural walk, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel: realising a resistance fighter, visiting sites connected with Fanny’s life and finishing in the grounds of Government House with a laying of flowers for Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s ancestors and cultural dances.
ABOVE: Elder Marie Taylor leads the inaugural Fanny Balbuk Yooreel walk through the city of Perth. M Poon RIGHT: The walkers reach the gates of Government House - a favoured place of protest of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel. M Poon 22 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter ABOVE: Walk participants are introduced to traditional dance by Noongar women. (M Poon)
ABOVE: Recognition was given to Fanny Balbuk Yooreel and her ancestors in the grounds of Government House. M Poon
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 23 ABOVE: 57 Murray St (G Bickford, Dessein) ABOVE: Government House viewed from St Georges Terrace, 1862 ABOVE: The Terrace Hotel on St George’s Terrace is the former Bishop’s Grove
(State Library of Western Australia 6293B.48) (G Pickering, National Trust of Western Australia)
5 57 Murray St people. Noongar
used for eons by by eons for used Matagarup
7 Government House 8 Bishop’s across Groveroute muddy the
57 Murray Street was built in 1912 for the Public Health and River Swan the of map 1835 an tucker, bush including
(Heirisson Island), flora and fauna, fauna, and flora Island), (Heirisson Matagarup
and Medical Department as a centre for government The devastation and changes to Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s The western end of Perth’s around
maps, records and locations. They depict riverscapes riverscapes depict They locations. and records maps,
traditional landscape had great personal impact. Members central business district is 1900s. early the in living was Fanny where bureaucracy, policy and innovation. historic to references include also quilts The experienced.
, the ‘Welshpool Native Reserve,’ Reserve,’ Native ‘Welshpool the , Maamba of location the from
of her family are buried close to prominent Perth landmarks linkedall-likelihood toin theFanny restingthat and placeknow we that Perth of
From this building the Chief Protector of Aborigines controlled far not River, Canning the of banks the on slaughterhouse activist Fanny Balbuk Yooreel. The works represent aspects aspects represent works The Yooreel. Balbuk Fanny activist
along St Georges Terrace. Her great grandmother, of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s a had also He Streets. Murray and Barrack of corner the
the lives of Aboriginal people throughout Western Australia. Whadjuk recognise to quilts
on Liddelow John by established was Butcher Liddelow
Daisy Bates, Western Mail, Thursday 18 April, 1935, page 9 page 1935, April, 18 Thursday Mail, Western Bates, Daisy
Moojurngul, is buried in the grounds of Government House grandmother, Yabben. superb of A skullrange a created
The death and legacy of Fanny Balbuk’s son, Joe Donnelly, in
that it was her own road. own her was it that
West Australian, Wednesday 27 May, 1885, page 3 page 1885, May, 27 Wednesday Australian, West
which is also registered as an Aboriginal site. Fanny would yellowed with age wasQuilters Art Inspired WA
woman who told them they were on her home ground and and ground home her on were they them told who woman
Onslow in 1925, was dealt with by this office. Yooreel Balbuk Fanny it.’ pay will Liddelow Mr master My
Perth Library Perth
protest at the gates of Government House, cursing those discovered during building fierce-eyed the of awe in were owners…themselves The
‘Please allow me till twelve o’clock to get the fine. fine. the get to o’clock twelve till me allow ‘Please
A copy of a letter Fanny wrote to him begins ‘Dear Son, I’m glad of City
within while a substantial fence kept her out. works in the vicinity in 1938. 4 would pay her fine. her pay would Daisy Bates, 1938 Bates, Daisy
occasion Fanny asserts that Mr Liddelow, her employer, employer, her Liddelow, Mr that asserts Fanny occasion to know that you got my letter at last and to know you are alive rooms. the through and steps the up charged
One of her favourite annoyances was to stand at the RIGHT: News article (Daily News,
She was fined or imprisoned for her ‘offences.’ On one one On ‘offences.’ her for imprisoned or fined was She
Humphreys (WA Inspired Art Quilters) Art Inspired (WA Humphreys
and well’ but she despairs that ‘All our people are dead.’ 14 October 1938) and stick digging her with fence-palings its broke she way,
Island Looking East by Elizabeth Elizabeth by East Looking Island
of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s arrests for disorderly behaviour. behaviour. disorderly for arrests Yooreel’s Balbuk Fanny of
gates of Government House, reviling all who dwelt within, the in built was house a When end. the to track straight Balbuk’s Country…Heirisson Country…Heirisson Balbuk’s
RIGHT:
accounts and court records records court and accounts
because the stone gates guarded by a sentry enclosed her ‘Judging by its age and the took Balbuk them, over and fences ground…Through There are many newspaper newspaper many are There
She raged and stormed at the usurping of her beloved home home beloved her of usurping the at stormed and raged She
6 appearance it is thoughtconsumed. were cakes
Colonial Hospital, Perth grandmother’s burial ground. of plates two and Café Ton Bon the at tea take did They Butcher
right of access to these places throughout her life. her throughout places these to access of right
probable the skull is that
Western Mail, Thursday 18 April, 1935, page 9 page 1935, April, 18 Thursday Mail, Western Daisy Bates, 1938 her demanded she expansion and building relentless of face
The Colonial Hospital was established on the corner of Liddelow
2 Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Balbuk Fanny of an Aboriginal who was the In friendships. and family her landscape, the from foods
Murray St and Victoria Square in 1855. It was here that BELOW: Government House under construction, 1862 (State Library of ‘Nobody will let Balbuk come inside their white mias’ mias’ white their inside come Balbuk let will ‘Nobody
Western Australia 6293B.14) buried there in the early traditional sourcing environment, the to commitment her Her legacy as a Perth resistance fighter can be traced through through traced be can fighter resistance Perth a as legacy Her
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel died on 20 March 1907. The cause of Collection) that Fanny responded: Fanny that
days of the colony.’ Centre History Perth of (City
chapter in the history of black-white relations in WA history’. history’. WA in relations black-white of history the in chapter that she asked Fanny to stop for tea during a city walk and and walk city a during tea for stop to Fanny asked she that Liddelow Butcher, 1880s 1880s Butcher, Liddelow
her death is recorded as cardiac failure. Her husband Doolby RIGHT:
She lived through a time described as the most ‘wretched ‘wretched most the as described time a through lived She and 104 William Street and 109 Barrack Street. Daisy recounts recounts Daisy Street. DailyBarrack News,109 and FridayStreet 14 October,William 104 and 1938
was by her side. She was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery on change. great of midst the in rights traditional her maintained
had five premises: 580 Hay Street (the original café), nos. 4 4 nos. café), original (the Street Hay 580 premises: five had
disenfranchised her community. community. her disenfranchised and preparing these foods and Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Yooreel Balbuk Fanny and foods these preparing and
21 March 1907 in an unmarked pauper’s grave. Café Ton Bon the Thereday, its of is still‘Dome’ theThe city. possibilitythe through many grave sites exist beneath country, took the lives of her extended family and and family extended her of lives the took country, toxins. Noongar women sustained their families by gathering gathering by families their sustained women Noongar toxins.
Fanny at the Bon Ton Café during one of their walks walks their of one during Café Ton Bon the at Fanny
and perspective. Colonisation descended onto her her onto descended Colonisation perspective. and
BELOW: remove to preparation careful needed which palm, zamia the From Colonial Hospital admissions records, 1907 the buildings and roads of Perth. (woman)
Noongar cultural places and language. Daisy took tea with with tea took Daisy language. and places cultural Noongar
revealed by others within a context of conflicting priority priority conflicting of context a within others by revealed
(G Pickering, National Trust of Western Australia) of fruit the gathered she Terrace Georges St along south Further
met Fanny and began recording her knowledge of of knowledge her recording began and Fanny met
is not easy. Details of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s life are often often are life Yooreel’s Balbuk Fanny of Details easy. not is
eggs and caught turtles and jilgies (freshwater crayfish). crayfish). (freshwater jilgies and turtles caught and eggs
trained anthropologist in Perth in the early 20th century, century, 20th early the in Perth in anthropologist trained
yorga Whadjuk passionate this know to Getting
expansion and development. This is where Fanny gathered gathered Fanny where is This development. and expansion Irish-born Daisy Bates, working as a journalist and self- and journalist a as working Bates, Daisy Irish-born
alleviate flooding in the colony and as part of ongoing ongoing of part as and colony the in flooding alleviate Bon Ton Café Ton Bon
Fanny was an angry3 woman because
area was drained in the 1840s as part of a broader policy to to policy broader a of part as 1840s the in drained was area Title rights existed in the Perth metropolitan area. metropolitan Perth the in existed rights Title
Balbuk Yooreel. Known to the colonists as Lake Kingsford, the the Kingsford, Lake as colonists the to Known Yooreel. Balbuk claim of 2006, where it was upheld that Native Native that upheld was it where 2006, of claim
Bon Ton Cafés (The Cyclopedia of Western Australia) Western of Cyclopedia (The Cafés Ton Bon everything in this life was taken from her
ABOVE: wetlands that were a key source of food collected by Fanny Fanny by collected food of source key a were that wetlands early 1900s, informed the Noongar Native Title Title Native Noongar the informed 1900s, early
Perth Railway Station, built in 1881, was constructed over over constructed was 1881, in built Station, Railway Perth
family, her country, her lifestyle...especially the in Bates Daisy by recorded country, Whadjuk
Perth Railway Station Railway Perth
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Perth Railway Station, 1881 (City of Perth History Centre Collection) Collection) Centre History Perth of (City 1881 Station, Railway Perth
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lm Theresa Walley | Whadjuk Ballardong Elder
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Perth’s original families. families. original Perth’s
map is available for self-guided walkers to follow the footsteps of Fanny Balbuk the Yooreel.to connected deeply
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Market St Resistance Fighter She wasn’t Pierfrightened St to tackle the Shenton St Walk the path of Fanny Balbuk YooreelN through the Perth development of colonisation in this country Fitzgerald St ew Parker St ca Sutherland St landscape and connect to this unique citys in new ways. Lake St tle when it happened, especially here in Perth. S wy W A Whadjuk woman who experienced colonisationt F elli Beverley Port-Louis | Whadjuk Yued Elder er ngt first-hand in the 19th century, Fanny Balbuk Yooreel was Lord St m on NORTHBRIDGE Aberdeen St ar St F passionate about her country and ‘raged and stormed’ m George St ha through her homelands as colonial Perth developed. Gra Roe St Guided by Whadjuk Elder women and their extended Parry St Murray St families, this map provides an experience informed by Stirling St newly compiledWilliam research St to mark the 110th anniversary of
the death of arguably Perth’s most important and Pier St WEST Hay St uncelebrated Whadjuk woman. Beaufort St r Aberdeen St e W Claisebrook T el The information in this map was compiled through the lin Station PERTH t gto s n St Department of Aboriginal Affairs, ARC Centre of Excellence e v r t for the History of Emotions and the National Trust of Lord St a t Parliament Pl S H S Perth James St Ord St Havelock St r Western Australia in partnership with the City of Perth. e n Station ld a BELOW: g E i 1 l Fanny Balbuk Yooreel spent the last years of her life at Maamba, the l CULTURAL WARNING i Murray St ‘Welshpool Native Reserve’ (State Library of Western Australia MN773 BA M Perth Old Perth 1423 149) The National Trust of Western Australia would like to advise Underground l McIver P Royal St Observatory Station t AboriginalStation and Torres Strait Islander readers that this s e Wellington St r brochure contains historical photos, images, references or Hay St r Moore St o names of people who have passed away. 8 F 2 SPECIAL THANKS TO Wittenoom St Malcolm St RoyalIrene Perth Stainton, Marie Taylor, Diane Yappo for their cultural Hospital City of guidance and advice. Pier St PERTH Perth Library Cliff St 3 5 AUTHORS6 William St 4 Gina Pickering and Leanne Brass M Mount St oria Sq i PUBLISHED BY t t c ic h V Bennett St e National Trust of Western Australia l l The Esplanade r F e w T
y e Perth Convention Hay St u v and Exhibition Howard St le N l atio Irwin St e Centre Elizabeth She was a strong lady who had nal Sherwood Ct St Georges Tce B Quay Station Trust knowledge. She grew up knowing this7 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Fanny Government
Fraser Ave is her country, this is her land. I’m proud Balbuk Yooreel Barrack St House to knowElizabeth she was a strong old lady who d Quay EAST PERTH R mixed with the white people.
y a
B Glenys Yarran N M Dr e s Realisinglso a Perth t e | Whadjuk Ballardong Elder a id n Cres y n rs D u e iv Victoria Ave r o Resistance Fighter R B M a rrac k Sq Hill St
Terrace Rd ABOVE: Fanny Balbuk Yooreel (on right)
(StateState Library War of Western Australia 25341PD) Bennett St Memorial Cenotaph
It makes me proud because a lot of our R Plain St ive d SWAN RIVER rsi ay R de women were strongs B but she didn’t take a Dr nt u o step back, sheM always took a step forward
in whatever she said or did. Narrows Brg May McGuire | Whadjuk Yued Elder
int C l Po lo Mil s
RIGHT Her Excellency the Honourable Kerry Sanderson AC, patron of the National Trust of Western Australia, hosted a morning tea in support of the Fanny Balbuk Yooreel project 26 April 2017. Government House
24 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter The City of Perth Library hosted an exhibition of exceptional quilts inspired by the life of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel and created by WA Inspired Quilters. This exhibition launched the Australian Heritage Festival in Perth resonating with the theme ‘Having a Voice’.
ABOVE: Members of the WA Inspired Art Quilters apply finishing touches to their work for the exhibition Balbuk’s Country. G Pickering
I had heard about Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s spirited resistance to European settlement. Stella King | WA Inspired Art Quilters
My decision to stitch footprints came after reading Fanny Balbuk followed well-trodden pathways. Denise Mallon | WA Inspired Art Quilters
LEFT: Roberta Chantler. Balbuk’s Country-Continuous Crossing, 2017. 58cm x 40cm
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 25 ABOVE: Meg Crowley. Balbuk’s Country-Unforeseen Future, 2017. 76 cm x 61cm
26 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions held a symposium, which brought together leading scholars and practitioners from across Australia to further research the emotional power of Fanny Balbuk Yooreel’s life and legacy, in the context of the emotions of colonial contact, the production of Australian indigenous stories, biographies and histories and recognition of Noongar heritage in Perth today.
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 27 The Centre also prepared an education package of resources about Fanny Balbuk Yooreel to enable primary and high school students to learn more about her important story.
ABOVE: Celebrations at Government House gardens. M Poon
28 | Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter Acknowledgements
THE NATIONAL TRUST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE RECEIVED FROM THE FANNY BALBUK YOOREEL PROJECT’S GUIDING COMMITTEE Irene Stainton, Chair National Trust Aboriginal Advisory Committee Marie Taylor Diane Yappo
THE PERTH ELDERS AND THEIR EXTENDED FAMILIES Doolan Leisha Eatts Beverley Port-Louis May McGuire Irene Stainton Marie Taylor Theresa Walley Glenys Yarran
INTERVIEWER Casey Kickett
OUR PARTNERS City of Perth ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions Department of Aboriginal Affairs
SUPPORT Lotterywest National Library of Australia Royal Perth Hospital Museum State Library of Western Australia State Records Office of Western Australia
SPECIAL THANKS TO Professor Susan Broomhall, Leanne Brass, Jenna Lynch, Mark Chambers and Sally McGann for all they bring.
Fanny Balbuk Yooreel Realising a Perth Resistance Fighter | 29 Even though we are a much younger generation we are still thinking of her as a living person really. She was always a hero in our eyes for us women. May McGuire | Whadjuk Ballardong Elder