Belinda Dann
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Belinda Dann (4 July 1900 – 9 October 2007) was an Indigenous Australian born as Quinlyn Wardagoo to an Irish cattle station manager and a Nyikina mother in the Lunlungai community in Derby, Western Australia.[1] At the age of 6, 7,[2] or 8[3] she was taken away and sent to Beagle Bay Mission with other members of the stolen generation. Her name was changed to Belinda Boyd[1] to integrate with White society.
As a teenager she married Matthias Dann,[1][4] and they helped build Sacred Heart Church at Beagle Bay.[3] In 1927 they moved to Port Hedland,[5] where they initially had to obey a 5 pm curfew for indigenous people as well as request a permit if they had wanted to drink at the pub.[6] The couple raised six children and established St Cecilia's College after the public school was abandoned during World War II.[3][4] Their daughter Maggie Galvin said her parents instilled in her a passion for education.[6]
Dann remembered her Aboriginal name, and one of her grandsons mentioned it to an Aboriginal girl who had heard of her family.[4] In May 2007 she met her 97-year-old brother, Patty Jungine, for the first time. Jungine died a month later in June 2007, and Dann died four months afterward in Port Hedland at age 107.[1]
Dann's funeral in Port Hedland attracted over 200 mourners on Saturday 27 October 2007, and was followed two weeks later by a traditional ceremony at Lunlungaim, where a lock of her hair was buried alongside her mother's grave.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Stephens, Tony; Thomas, Beatrice (30 October 2007). "Stolen child became a pillar of the community". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 16. ProQuest 364379380.
- ^ "Stolen generation survivor dies". Sydney Morning Herald. 26 October 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
- ^ a b c "Strong Women of Hedland | Quinlyn Wardagoo (Belinda Dann)". www.porthedland.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
- ^ a b c "WA: Stolen generation member dies only months after reunion". AAP General News Wire. Sydney. 25 October 2007. ProQuest 448803319.
- ^ Pemble, Louise (14 October 2007). "Stolen child mourned". The Sunday Times. Perth, W.A. p. 22. ProQuest 375721973.
- ^ a b Leahy, Ben (7 November 2015). "Nurse's love of learning inspires". The West Australian. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
- ^ The West Australian, Friday 26 October 2007, page 18