Indigenous Australia

PUBLICATION: Mabel Edmund, No Regrets, University of Queensland Press, 1992, Brisbane

SEX: Female

BIRTH DATE: 1930

BIRTH PLACE: Rockhampton

FIRST LANGUAGE: English

SIGNIFICANT LOCALITIES:

• Bombandy: A cattle property near Clermont owned by Clarence Brown and his brother in law William Usher. (p.2) Mabel’s parents moved to Bombandy after they married in 1910, and had two children while living on the outstation at Rookwood. (p.2)
• When Mabel was thirteen, her parents sent her back to Bombandy to work on the Rookwood outstation for Clarence Brown’s son. (p.22)
• Weedondilla: a sheep property outside Muttaburra. (p.4) Mabel’s parents followed the Usher family from Bombany to Weedondilla, and had three children more while living there. (p.5)
• Rockhampton: Isabel Mann moved to Rockhampton after the birth of her youngest child, Mabel, to be near to her mother. (p.6) She lived in a suburb on the north of the Fitzroy River that had been inhabited by South Sea Islanders since the 1860s, when they were brought to work as indentured labourers in the cane fields. (p.11)
• Mabel grew up a central area known as “the flat”. (p.12)
• Mabel and Digger returned to rent a house in outer Rockhampton suburb of Nerimbera in 1957. Mabel lived in Nerimbera until four years after Digger’s death, when she followed the doctor’s suggestion and moved to Cairns for two years. (p.56)
• Jericho: After she quit her job at Bombandy, John Mann sent Mabel to work on a sheep station near Jericho. (p.26)
• Joskeleigh: a community of South Sea Islanders twenty-three miles east of Rockhampton, where Digger grew up. (p.30) Mabel was married in the local church and moved in with Digger’s family after the wedding. (p.31)
• After the birth of their first child Mabel and Digger moved into their own home in Joskeleigh, which they built one mile from the Edmund family home. They lived there until 1957, when Digger and Mabel moved back to Rockhampton. (p.56)
• Canberra: Mabel travelled to Canberra once a month while serving on the Aboriginal Loans Commission. (p.78)
• Melbourne, Adelaide, Coober Pedy, Perth and Sydney: places that Mabel travelled while serving on the Aboriginal Loans Commission. (p 81-84)
• Cairns: four years after her husband’s death, Mabel moved to Cairns for two years to study at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art centre. (p.93)

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL:

• England: In 1982 Mabel accepted an invitation to attend the Arts and Communication Congress at Queens College, Cambridge. (p.89)

EXPERIENCES OF EDUCATION:

• Mabel walked almost four miles each day to attend North Rockhampton School. (p.7) She changed to Glenmore School after the bombing of Darwin, because her mother feared the bridge near North Rockhampton would also be attacked. (p.7) Mabel would often stop on the railway line on the way to Glenmore School, and spend the entire day waiting for the troop train to pass by. (p.7)
• Mabel left school at the age of thirteen. (p.21) In the late 1980s, after the death of her husband, Mabel continued her education at the Aboriginal and Islander Vocational School or Art in Cairns. (p.94)

EXPERIENCES OF EMPLOYMENT:

• When Mabel left school, her parents sent her to Bombandy cattle station to work on the Rookwood outstation. (p.21)
• Mabel worked from sunrise to sundown and was paid one pound a week. (p.23) Isabel came to visit for two months in 1944, and she too worked with the cattle at Rookwood. (p.23) After her mother left, Mabel became restless and homesick, and decided to resign from Bombandy. (p.23)
• Mabel’s father was on leave from the army when she got back to Rockhampton. (p.24) John forbad her from staying with her mother, and sent Mabel to work on a sheep property near Jericho. (p.24)
• When Mabel arrived in Jericho she was collected at the train station by her new boss, and shown to her new room: a tiny galvanised iron hut behind the main homestead, which she shared with the cook. (p.34) Shortly after the overseer quit his job, which meant Mabel and the boss’ son had to muster the sheep for shearing. (p.25)
• While Mabel enjoyed the work, she was disappointed that she didn’t receive a bonus or even congratulations from her boss. (p.25) When the mustering was finished Mabel was thrown by a horse onto a fence, and spent days in bed unable to move. (p.26)
• A week after she had recovered, Mabel was offering work mustering on the neighbouring sheep station, Rosedale. (p.26) She took the job and enjoyed working alongside the young wife of her new employer, the McFetridges. (p.26) Mabel spent most of her days at Rosedale mustering sheep, however she also did burr chipping and housework. (p.26)
• Mabel returned to Rockhampton after learning Isabel was in hospital. (p.27) Soon after her mother’s death, Mabel married Digger Edmund and moved to the South Sea Islander community of Joskeleigh. (p.36)
• While living at Joskeleigh, Mabel and the other women were assigned the duty of collecting firewood. (p.36) She learned the different varieties of tree, and which woods were best for different purposes. (p.36)
• The women at Joskeleigh taught Mabel to make her own clothes and cook a variety of new dishes. (p.38)
• They also took her on fishing and crabbing. (p.41) According to South Sea Islander tradition, Mabel never took large quantities of food or cash on a trip, because she believes that God would not give fish to those who already had plenty. (p.41)
• Followed the other families at Joskeleigh, Mabel built a market garden with peanuts and few acres of cotton. (p.43)
• On the weekends Mabel helped her husband to build a home from bush timber, mud and shell grit, about one-mile from his parents house. (p.37)
• After they moved into their home, Mabel continued to perform these domestic tasks on her own. (p.44) She learned to shoot, and hunted scrub turkeys, wild ducks, white ibis and spoonbills. (p.46)
• In 1957 Mabel and Digger relocated to Nerimbera in Rockhampton. (p.55) Mabel and other women from the district were offered casual work picking beans and tomatoes, digging potatoes and chipping weeds. (p.57)
• Mabel also became involved with the Lake Creek School P&C committee and other non-for-profit organisations in the Nerimbera area. (p.57)
• In 1968 Mabel joined the Labor Party, because her husband was a member, as it was the only party with a branch in Nerimbera. (p.57)
• In 1969 Digger put Mabel’s name forward to stand for a seat on the Livingstone Shire Council. The Labor Party caucus endorsed her candidacy, and her campaign attracted attention from the Sunday Mail in Brisbane. (p.58)
• Mabel won the election and was the only woman to serve on the council. (p.58) She was very nervous before her first meeting, but most of the male councillors treated her with dignity and respect. (p.59)
• Some of Mabel’s achievements were convincing the Main Roads Department to build a bitumen road in her division, and getting electricity to the Joskeleigh district. (p.59) She also sat on the water and sewage committee, the parks and gardens committee and the finance committee.(p.60)
• Another of Mabel’s duties was to collect the scalps of pigs and dingoes, which the council sought to exterminate, and exchange them for tokens. (p.60)
• As councillor, Mabel enjoyed attending formal functions, and meeting Princess Alexandra and Prince Phillip. (p.61)
• In the 1970s Mabel helped established an organisation that provided legal representation for Aboriginal and Islander people. (p.63)
• Mabel joined the local district committee of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, and was later elected the district president, a state councillor, and eventually the state secretary. (p.64) She worked on a voluntary basis and travelled around the state to attend meetings. (p.66)
• In 1973, after Mabel had been re-elected as councillor, she was nominated to sit on the Aboriginal Loans Commission in Canberra: a panel that awarded home loans to Aboriginal people. (p.72) Mabel was forced to accept the appointment on the spot, without seeking her husband’s consent. (p.72) Digger became very angry and forbade her to go, but Mabel ignored his protests and travelled to Canberra for the Commission. (p.73)
• Mabel travelled to Canberra on a monthly basis for the next six years. (p.74) She was paid a parliamentarians wage for the days that the Commission was in conference. (p.75) On their last day a lunch was held in the commissioner’s honour at Parliament House. (p.84)
• In the early 1970s Mabel also modelled for a dress salon on television. (p.75) Her nieces watched the show for amusement, because she often fell over. (p.76)
• At this time Mabel was endorsed by the Labor Party to run for the federal seat of Callide in a snap election called by Joh Bjelke-Peterson. (p.76) Another Labor candidate also ran for the seat, because it was too big for one campaigner. (p.76)
• Labor fared badly in the state election. Mabel did not win a seat, but was nonetheless pleased to have been preselected. (p.76)
• Around this time Mabel was also employed by an Aboriginal and Islander housing co-operative committee to assist people with homemaking and budgeting. (p.77)
• Mabel had to attend lectures as part of the job training, and she resented this because she considered her experience as a mother and councillor to be sufficient. (p.77)
• Four year after her husband Digger died, Mabel was still suffering serious grief. (p.93) Following the doctor’s suggestions she left Rockhampton to take a course at the Aboriginal and Islander Vocational School or Art in Cairns. (p.93)
• Mabel enjoyed her studies in Cairns, and graduated in 1986. (p.94) In that year she received an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. (p.95)
• Mabel had her first art exhibition at the Rockhampton Art Gallery during NAIDOC week in 1987. (p.96)
• After the success of her first show, Mabel was invited to hold an exhibition at the Rockhampton Art Galley the following year. (p.97)
• In 1989 Mabel’s paintings were displayed at the Reid Community Arts Centre alongside other students from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Vocational School for Arts. (p.97)

EXPERIENCES OF RELIGION:

• Isabel Mann, her mother, was a devout Christian, and Mabel was brought up to share these religious convictions. (p.46) Throughout her book, she pays thanks to God for her abilities and accomplishments.
• When her husband died, Mabel considered taking her own life. She resisted this urge because it went against her religious principles. (p.87)
• When Mabel travelled to England after Digger’s death, she made a trip to Dorset for Catholic’s People week. (p.92)
• Mabel saw her public work as a service to God, and looked forward to the day she would be rewarded in heaven. (p.95)

IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS): an organisation established in the 1970s in Rockhampton to represent Aboriginal and Islanders who had been imprisoned. (p.64)

SALIENT LAWS AND POLICIES:

• n/a

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH:

• Mabel was thrown from a horse onto a fence while she was mustering sheep at Jericho. (p.26) She spent a few days unable to move, and was tended to by her roommate Coral. (p.26)
• The sudden death of Mabel’s husband was a source of great suffering. She considered committing suicide, and was sent to to the hospital several times believing that she was suffering a heart attack. (pp. 87, 93) Following the doctor’s advice, Mabel eventually overcame her grief by leaving their family home and moving to Cairn to study art. (p.93)

RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS:

• Isabel Wallace: Mabel describes her mother as the tall, attractive daughter of an Aboriginal woman and a German man. (p.2)
• After marrying John Mann in 1910, Isabel moved with him to the Rookwood outstation on the Bombandy cattle station. (p.2) She had two children while living at Rookwood: George and Isabel junior. Isabel taught her eldest children to count using quinine berries, and to write using charcoal on cardboard or bark. (p.2)
• When Isabel and John relocated to Weewondilla station, they had three more children: John, Mavis and Cecil. (p.5)
• Before Isabel gave birth to her last child, Mabel, she decided to move back to her hometown of Rockhampton. (p.6)
• While life was easier for Isabel in Rockhampton, Mabel knew that her mother missed her father dearly. (p.7)
• During the War, Isabel worked as a laundress for the American troops stationed in Rockhampton. (p.9)
• After the War, Mabel’s parents encouraged her to work on Bombandy Station. (p.23) Isabel missed her daughter, and so travelled west with her and spent two months on the station. (p.23)
• Mabel became homesick when Isabel returned to Rockhampton, and soon after she returned from Bombandy. (p.24) Mabel wasn’t able to stay with her mother long, because when her father returned on army leave she was sent to work on a station again. (p.27) Her homesickness continued at Jericho, particularly after she was injured in a horse accident. (p.26)
• When Mabel was fifteen she learnt her mother was in hospital with pneumonia. She was shocked by the news and returned to Rockhampton the next day. (p.27)
• Back in Rockhampton, Mabel rode her bike to the hospital every day to see her mother. (p.28) On the night before she died, Isabel told her daughter to move in with her older brother George, and to live a Christian life.
• John William Mann: Isabel’s father was the son of a South Sea Islander who had been transported to Queensland from New Hebrides. (p.2) John worked in the cane fields at Calen, before marrying Isabel Wallace in 1910. (p.2)
• John and Isabel moved to a cattle property outside of Clermont, Bombandy, owned by Mr Clarence Brown and his brother in law Mr William Usher. (p.2) Mabel’s father worked with cattle on the outstation, Rookwood. (p.2)
• John told his daughter of one occasion, when he was called into the main station at Bombandy, to care for Mr Brown’s family while he was away. (p.3) During this time Mrs Brown’s father became ill and died. The ambulance was unable to reach the house because of flooding, so John had to dress and bury the body himself. (p.3)
• When Mr Usher sold his share in Bombandy, John followed him to a sheep property names Weewondilla outside Muttaburra. (p.4) There John maintained a large market garden, and travelled to Muttaburra every weekend to sell vegetables. (p.5) Mabel’s father always stopped at the pub on his way, and by the time he reached the markets John was often so intoxicated he gave most of his produce away. (p.4) John would spend any money he did earn at the pub on the way home, where he would often get into fights and end up spending the night in prison. (p.5)
• Isabel moved to Rockhampton before the birth of their last child, Mabel. (p.6) John stayed on at Weewondilla, but took a break to help build the first sewerage system for the Rockhampton City Council. (p.6) Mabel loved living with her father, and waited on the verandah for him to return home each evening. (p.7)
• During the Second World War John lied about his age, so that he was considered young enough to join the Home Guard. (p.7) He served as a security guard on the wharf in Cairns, escorting Japanese prisoners of war to camps in New South Wales. (p.7) Sometimes he was given leave and was able to stop in Rockhampton on his way home. (p.7)
• Mabel did not live with her father after her mother’s death, but got married instead and moved to Joskeleigh. (p.29)
•  In 1949, when Digger and Mabel’s house was destroyed in a cyclone, John gave them his home and returned to Weewondilla Station. (P.51)
• When John was 77 he retired and came to live with Mabel permanently. (p.54)
• John proved to be a great grandfather and protector while Digger was away working in Rockhampton. (p.54)

RELATIONSHIP WITH PARTNERS:

• “Digger” Edmund: a friend of George Mann. (p.21) Mabel had met Digger through her older brother when he called on their home in Rockhampton, and was surprised to learn that he too was working on Bombandy Station. (p.21)
• On one occasion Digger forced Mabel to round up the cows on a horse that she always avoided, because it always pig-rooted and threw her off. (p.22)
• After a few days Digger informed Mabel that he hadn’t done so to punish her, but because he wanted her to dominate the horse so that it wouldn’t throw her again. (p.23)
• After Mabel left Bombandy, Digger also returned to Rockhampton and worked in the meatworks. He wrote to Mabel every week when she moved to Jericho, and gradually she started to think of him as an eligible partner. (p.24)
• In one of his letters, Digger proposed marriage to Mabel. (p.25)
• Mabel returned to Rockhampton at the age of fifteen because her mother was dying. (p.29) On the night before her death, Isabel told her daughter that she had arranged for him to live with George. (p.28) However, Mabel felt that she would be a burden on her brother, who had five children of his own, and so she turned to Digger for support. (p.29)
• Digger and Mabel married in his hometown of Joskeleigh, to the east of Rockhampton. (p.30) The minister was two hours late and Digger was drunk during the ceremony, because he had consumed a bottle of rum to calm his nerves. (p.31)
• Mabel moved in with Digger’s family in Joskeleigh after the wedding, (p.32) He worked at the meatworks in Rockhampton during the week, and came home on the weekends. (p.33) Mabel and Digger had their first children there before moving to the house they built together about a mile from his parent’s house. (p.37)
• Digger encouraged Mabel to join the Labor Party, and put her name forward to the caucus as a candidate for the council elections. (pp.57-58) He was very angry, however, when his wife agreed to sit on the Aboriginal Loans Commission without seeking his approval beforehand. (p.72)
• Mabel decided to join the Commission regardless of her husband’s protests. (p.73) Digger grew increasingly disgruntled when Mabel started working long hours, and spending a few days every month in Canberra. (p.75) On one occasion he became so enraged by Mabel taking calls during dinner that he threw her meal out the window and locked her out. (p.75)
• Gradually Digger came to accept and support Mabel’s decision to join the Commission, but she sometimes regretted it because it kept her away from home. (p.81)
• Digger suffered a heart attack while playing a cricket match at Kettle Park, and died suddenly. (p.87) Mabel was distraught when her husband died, and even considered taking her own life. (p.87)
• Mabel had been married thirty-five years when her husband died. (p.31)

RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILDREN:

• The Edmunds named their first daughter Isabel after Mabel’s recently deceased mother, Isabel. (p.49) They had five more children in quick succession, who Mabel cared for on her own while Digger worked in Rockhampton during the week. (p.49)
• From the age of four Isabel helped her mother with domestic duties, by walking a mile each week to collect the supplies. (p.49)
• Isabel grew up to be an independent woman and a strong Christian. (p.98) She had a beautiful singing voice, and only performs Gospel songs. (p.98)
• Dale, Mabel and Digger’s second eldest, was an active and talkative child who suffered from chronic pneumonia. (p.50) As an adult Dale was a hard working and dedicated father to his large family. (p.98)
•  Their third and fourth children, Daryl and Sally, were both small and timid. (p.50) Dale was conscripted to fight in the Vietnam War, and served in the army for three years following. (p.98) He was among a select group of soldiers who trained in Hawaii, but returned to Australia at the request of his wife and found work in the gold mines in Western Australia. (p.98) Sally became a stay at home mother, who visited Mabel regularly. (p.98)
• Dean, their fifth child, was a slow and soft-hearted boy, who turned out to be a champion footballer and boxer. (p.51) After leaving school he worked as a plumber and church pastor. (p.99)
• Digger and Mabel’s youngest, Selena, was a relaxed child with the same dry wit as her grandfather. (p.51) She later graduated from Seven Hills College at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, and went on to work with a heath team treating Aboriginal children in communities with the University of Queensland. (p.99)

IMPORTANT/INFLUENTIAL FIGURES:

• The Browns: the part owners of Bombandy with Mr Brown’s brother-in-law, Mr Usher. (p.4)
• The Manns kept in contact with the Browns after they left the station, and Mabel returned to work for their son Alistair when she was thirteen. (p.21) Isabel Mann was delighted to reconnect with Alistair when she returned to Bombandy for two months to visit Mabel. (p.23)
• The Ushers: the part owners of Bombandy Station. (p.3)
• Mr Usher later sold his share in the property to his brother-in-law, Mr Brown, and bought a sheep property outside of Muttaburra. (p.4) Mabel’s father followed Mr Usher, and stayed in the family's service after his employers’ death. (p.5)
• Grandmother: Mabel’s maternal grandmother lived at Northside in Rockhampton with her German husband and three children. (p.15) After her husband died she remarried an Islander man named Peter Norman, who everyone called Peter Buuga-Buuga after his home island. (p.15)
• Grandfather: as a child, Mabel was led to believe her grandfather was of Scottish descent. Later in life she learnt he was in fact German, and had been brought Australia by the government to farm in Central Queensland. (p.15) The German migrants had little support from the government, and nearly starved during a drought. (p.15)
• Bong and Connie Vea Vea: A giant man and his miniscule wife, who lived at “the flat” in Northside. (p.15) Mabel and the other children often visited Bong and Connie in their galvanised iron house with earth floor. (p.15)
• Rachel and John Warrie: A couple who lived in a weatherboard house looking out on “the flat” in Northside. (p.16) Rachel was a jovial, rotund woman who kept a close eye on the activity of the community. (p.26) Johnny worked as a gardener and later became the first Islander to start his own business, when he opened up a plant nursery. (p.17)
• Dr Thomson: An Aboriginal-Afghan herbalist who lived amongst the Islanders in Rockhampton. (p.18) According the Mabel’s brother John, Dr Thomson filled bottles with methylated spirits dyed green and sold it to unsuspecting patients. (p.18)
• Mr Jim Macaree: a man who lived at Corrooman, who employed many of the young Islander boys from Northside to collect eucalyptus leaves, which he refined and sold as oil. (p.19)
• The Weiss family: A German family who lived near “the flat” in Northside, who cared for Isabel Mann and her children. (p.20)
• Coral: the cook at Jericho station, who Mabel lived with in a tiny galvanised iron shed. (p.23) Coral cared for Mabel when she was unable to move after being thrown from a horse.(p.26)
• Mr and Sally McFetridges: An elderly man and his young wife, who owned the Rosedale sheep property. (p.26) Mabel became good friends with Sally McFetridges, who she called Mrs Mac. (p.26)
•  Mrs Mac had a degree in home economics and was a fully qualified nursing sister. She imparted some of this knowledge to Mabel. (p.26)
• Mrs Mac took Sally with her whenever she visited her friends on neighbouring properties. (p.27)
• When Isabel Mann fell ill, Mrs Mac immediately booked Mabel a ticket home, and washed and packed her clothing. (p.26)
• The Edmunds: Mabel’s parents-in-law. She moved into their house in Joskeleigh after she married Digger at just fifteen. (p.33)
• Grandad Edmund was a talented carpenter, and made cots for Mabel’s children as well as other furniture. (p.33)
• Mabel’s mother-in-law taught Mabel how to sew and cook. She had difficultly sewing straight lines, and often Granny Edmunds would unpick her work and make her start again. (p.38)
• Mabel and Digger moved out of Granny and Grandad Edmunds after they had finished building their own house. As their new home was only one mile away, Mabel’s parent-in-law remained a constant feature in their life.
• Mavis Mann: Mabel’s older sister. Mavis was also involved in Aboriginal politics in Rockhampton, and was the voluntary secretary and bookkeeper of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service. (p.63)
• Jeremy Harper: a solicitor who worked at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service in the 1970s. (p.64) When Jeremy arrived from southern Australian he was relatively ignorant of Indigenous issues, but he soon learnt about the discrimination they faced. (p.64)
• Kath Walker (Oodgeroo Noonuccal): An Aboriginal activist and poet who Mabel met threw her involvement in Indigenous politics in the 1970s. (p.71) Mabel felt comfortable telling Kath about her struggles with racism when she stayed with her in Rockhampton. (p.71)
• Kath later wrote an award winning short story based on Mabel’s experiences. (p.71)
• Professor Audrey Donnithorne: Mabel met Audrey at a Women of the Year Luncheon in Sydney, when they were seated next to each other. (p.83) Audrey was a Professor at the Australian National University, and when she learnt that Mabel visited Canberra every month she invited her to her house. (p.83) Mabel accepted the offer and they became close friends. (p.83)
• Judith Warrie: an Islander woman from “the flat” in Northside, who also studied at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art centre in Cairns in the 1980s. (p.94) Judith was only a baby when Mabel lived in Northside, but they became close friends later in life. (p.94)

PREOCCUPATIONS:

• Racial discrimination: Mabel recalls hurtful experiences of racial discrimination throughout her life. As a child living in Rockhampton, she attended a predominantly white school. (p.1)
• Even amongst the South Sea Islanders children who lived at “the flat”, Mabel was singled out because of her mixed ancestry. (p.1)
• When she moved to Joskeleigh as a young married woman, Mabel was assimilated into the South Sea Island community. As well as adopting their lifestyle, she also became suspicious of white Australians, who often treated the South Sea Islanders with contempt. (p.48)
• Mabel was placed in a segregated ward when she went to the Rockhampton hospital to have her children. (p.48) The black mothers ward constituted of a small room of the back verandah, with three beds and a pan room. (p.48)
• On one of her trips the segregated ward was full, and she had to give birth in the main ward. (p.49) One of the patients joked to Mabel that she hoped they didn’t have the wrong babies. To this Mabel replied that she didn’t, because her baby was black and more beautiful than the woman’s child. (p.49)
• Mabel had another encounter with racism when her father died. When John was 83 he tripped and broke his hip because he had brittle bones. (p.69) Mabel took him to the public hospital and he stayed there for three weeks, before the staff said there was nothing they could do. (p.70)
• When she got him home, Mabel found that the skin was missing from her father’s back. She presumed that he had been neglected in hospital, and decided to take him to the hospital section of a nursing home. (p.70) However the sister at the nursing home rejected her father, saying his skin was too dark. (p.70) They were forced to take John to the public hospital again and he died days later. (p.71)

MODE OF LITERARY PRODUCTION:

• No Regrets was written by Mabel Edmund.