Doreen Maude (Kartinyeri) Wanganeen (1935 - 2007)

Born 3 Feb 1935 in Point McLeay, South Australia, Australia

Ancestors

Died 3 Dec 2007 at age 72 in Point Pearce, South Australia, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Australia Project WikiTree [send private message]

Doreen (Kartinyeri) Wanganeen was an Indigenous Australian. Join: Indigenous Australians Project Discuss: INDIGENOUS_AUSTRALIANS

Biography

Doreen (Kartinyeri) Wanganeen is an Indigenous Australian.

Doreen has Aboriginal ancestors.

Doreen (Kartinyeri) Wanganeen was born in Australia

Doreen Kartinyeri was an activist and historian.
Born in 1935 at the Point McLeay Mission, later named Raukkan, South Australia, to Oswald Kartinyeri and Thelma Rigney, Doreen was a Ngarrindjeri woman, and also of Ngadjuri, Nauo, Wirangu, Barngarla, Boandik and Barkandji descent. Two of her great-grandfathers were white.^[1]

Early Life

Doreen grew up in Raukkan with two brothers, Oscar and Ron, and five sisters, Nancy, Doris, Alma, Connie Levin and Doris Eileen, in a two roomed house made of flattened kerosene tins. She was part of a large, loving family which included grandparents, all of her aunts and uncles, and many cousins.^[2]

Time at Christian Mission

Life at the Mission was restrictive upon the Ngarrindjeri people. They became fearful of white people visiting the Mission, as many of their people were taken away. These people were subsequently recognised as the Stolen Generations, forcibly removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments.^[3] The government provision of food was insufficient, and in order to survive, the Ngarrindjeri people had to hunt. The Colonials' clearing of land removed edible plants and berries that provided sustenance to the Ngarrindjeri people. Men were forced to clear land or else their food rations would not be supplied. The Ngarrindjeri people were forbidden to speak their native language in school or in church, which was problematic as some of the older men did not understand English. When sheep were slaughtered for food, the best cuts went to the white people who ran the Mission. The remainder was distributed to the Ngarrindjeri on a first come, first served basis. This caused division when the food ran out, and conflicted with their own custom of sharing everything equally between their people. The government had a social security payment for the parents of white people, known as child endowment, which contributed to the cost of raising a child. These payments were also made to the parents of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who had some white ancestry, and caused division when some children were eligible for child endowment payments but their siblings weren't.^[4]

Aboriginal people could apply for exemption from the laws that controlled their lives. In return they could receive child endowment and also be allowed to leave the Mission to work. There was a downside though, as they were then kept apart from their families, and unable to return to the Mission.^[5]

Doreen was 10 years old when her mother died, within weeks of giving birth. Despite the presence of a large family to help, the nurse at the Mission, Sister McKenzie, decided that Doreen's grandmother was too old to care for children. The baby, Doris, disappeared from the hospital before her family were informed of the decision to remove her. Oswald Kartinyeri was deceived. Thinking that he was signing for Doris' child endowment to be given to her carer until she could be returned to the Mission, he instead granted permission for her to be made a ward of the State. Within weeks, Doreen's grandmother was forced to give up all but two of the remaining children. She chose to keep the youngest two, and Doreen was sent to the Salvation Army Girls' Home in Fullarton, a suburb of Adelaide.^[6]

Upon her arrival at the home, Doreen's hair was washed with phenol, stinging her scalp and eyes, and her curls were cut off.^[7] Parents could only visit with the permission of the Aborigines' Protection Board, which wasn't always granted, and the children were only permitted to write to family monthly. Doreen received occasional visits from her father, when he could afford the lengthy journey to visit her.^[8] In an interview with Sue Anderson for the Ngadjuri Oral Histories Project, Doreen said she was also allowed to visit her childhood home in the holidays.^[9]
After school, the girls were required to perform cleaning work in the home. This was not required to pay for their upkeep, as the Salvation Army collected their child endowment payments and was also paid a weekly fee from the Aborigines' Protection Board. Racism was prevalent in the home, with white girls treated more favourably than the Aboriginal girls. Doreen became rebellious in this mostly unpleasant environment, which led to her expulsion at 13 years of age. She had completed schooling to grade three.^[10]

Thinking that she would finally be returned to Raukkan, Doreen was confused to find herself at another home in Sussex Street, North Adelaide, for a short time, before she was placed in the household of a white couple, George and Joan Dunn, at Charleston in the Adelaide Hills. Doreen was required to perform domestic duties for the Dunns for a period of two years.^[11]

Although the Dunns treated Doreen kindly, other people weren't so gracious. She was once removed from a tram for refusing to give up her seat for a white girl. Doreen was allowed to visit her family at Raukkan, but only after writing to the Protector of Aborigines and obtaining permission.^[12]

After two years and two months of service with the Dunns, Doreen went to live with the Motterams, Joan Dunn's parents, at Kings Park, a suburb of Adelaide. Elderly Mrs Motteram helped Doreen to read.^[13]

In September 1950 Doreen returned to Raukkan to care for her sick grandmother. She learned about family relationships from her aunts and uncle.^[14]

Family

Doreen married Terry Wanganeen on 23 October in the Methodist Church at Maitland. Her cousin Elva was bridesmaid, and her brother Oscar was Terry's groomsman.^[15] Doreen and Terry raised seven sons and two daughters at the Narrunga community at Point Pearce, on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. Their first child died at seven months of age in his mother's arms. Doreen also cared for 23 foster children.^[16]

By 1975, the ban on alcohol for First Nations people was lifted. As many of them were unused to drinking alcohol and unable to control their drinking, it caused many problems in the community. Terry, like some of the other men, became violent and abusive. Women, including Doreen, sometimes found themselves in hospital, where they were patched up and sent back to their husbands to be further mistreated. Eventually Doreen was pushed to the point where she fought back, by smashing a bottle on a table and stabbing Terry with the broken glass. When Terry was taken to hospital, the doctor decided Doreen had an anger management problem. To avoid being charged with attempted murder, even though Terry did not want charges to be laid, Doreen was required to "voluntarily" enter Hillcrest Psychiatric Hospital for six weeks. She chose the latter for the sake of her eight children and three foster children.^[17]

Genealogy

Doreen commenced formal genealogical studies in 1981. Her marriage to Terry over, she began putting family trees together, which helped a lot of Stolen Generations people to be reunited with their families. She commenced working in a room at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, with support from Professor Fay Gale, a specialist in Aboriginal social geography at the University of Adelaide. Reading the official records of the Protector of Aborigines was particularly stressful, as it contained false accusations against beloved family members. After working with anthropologist Norman Tindale's records at the South Australian Museum, she joined the staff of the Museum in 1984, and published her genealogies, which included the Kartinyeri, Rigney, Sumner, Wanganeen and Wilson families. Doreen was only paid $260 per week by the Museum, less than she received from her pension, but the potential benefits to her people inspired her to continue with this important work.^{[18][19][20][21] [22][23]}

Cultural Activism

Doreen strongly opposed the construction of the Hindmarsh Island bridge, and was the spokesperson for her people. This was a site of great cultural importance to the Ngarrindjeri people, where ancestors were buried. In particular, it was a sacred site for women, for reasons they would not disclose, in accordance with their culture. The Museum was understanding of the large amount of time Doreen dedicated to drawing attention to the harm that would be caused to the Kumarangk site should the construction of the bridge proceed, and allowed her to work from home.
In 1994 Doreen was named South Australian Aboriginal of the Year, presumably because the government recognised the value of her work, and was quite taken aback when, the following year, a Royal Commission was announced to investigate whether or not the women had been truthful.
Doreen eventually came to suspect that some of her colleagues at the Museum had conflicting opinions on the matter, and felt betrayed when some of them gave evidence to the Commission against her.
This led to Doreen resigning from the Museum. Some of the Ngarrindjeri women testified that they knew nothing of women's business, including Doreen's Aunty Laura Kartinyeri, who had been deceived into signing a statement to that effect. The Commission decided that the secret women's business was fabricated.^[24][25]
However Doreen and her group were finally vindicated when the bridge developers, Thomas and Wendy Chapman, sued for compensation. Anthropologist Diane Bell had discovered some new information that supported Doreen's position of the site's sacred significance for Ngarrindjeri women.^[26]
Federal Court Judge, Mr Justice John von Doussa, in Chapman v Luminis Pty Ltd (No 5) found that "the evidence received by the Court on this topic is significantly different to that which was before the Royal Commission. Upon the evidence before this Court I am not satisfied that the restricted women's knowledge was fabricated or that it was not part of genuine Aboriginal tradition'. Further, Justice von Doussa found the nine Ngarrindjeri women who testified about their beliefs to be 'credible witnesses who genuinely hold the beliefs and recollections expressed by them'.^[27]

Despite her many years of being treated as a lesser human being than white people, Doreen was required to obtain a letter to prove her Aboriginality when she applied for housing in 2005. The letter was written by her son Klynton, the South Australian Commissioner for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Evidence was also required to obtain the funding to write her autobiography, which was published posthumously in 2008.^[28]

In her 2006 book Doreen included a section titled "Background Information" in which she quoted from Reverend George Taplin's diaries, and others, concluding "They show just some of the attempts made to interfere with Aboriginal culture. However, Ngarrindjeri people are still strong in their culture today."^[29]

Honours and Awards

In 1995 Doreen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia in recognition of her genealogical work.^[30]
In 2002 Doreen was awarded the Prime Minister's Centenary Medal.^[31]

Death & Burial

She died on 3 December 2007 at Point Pearce, following a long illness.^[32][33]

Sources

1. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 1.
2. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 1.
3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Stolen Generations," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stolen_Generations&oldid=1001789065 (accessed February 7, 2021).
4. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 1.
5. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 2.
6. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 2.
7. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 2.
8. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 3.
9. ↑ Anderson, Sue. Interview with Doreen Kartinyeri 6 April 2000. Ngadjuri Oral Histories Project. OH 482/8. (State Library of South Australia, J.D. Somerville Oral History Collection, slsa.sa.gov.au : accessed 7 Feb 2021.
10. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 3.
11. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 4.
12. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 4.
13. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 4.
14. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 4.
15. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 5.
16. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 1.
17. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 5.
18. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 6.
19. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen. The Rigney family genealogy. 1983. ISBN: 095918010.
20. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen. The Wanganeen Family Genealogy; The Aboriginal Research Centre, University of Adelaide, 1985. ISBN 0959180117.
21. ↑ The Kartinyeri family genealogy. 1989. ISBN: 0731633470.
22. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen. The Wilson family genealogies. c1990. ISBN: 0731688503.
23. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen. The Sumner family genealogies. 1998. ISBN: 07308622143.
24. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 7.
25. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Doreen Kartinyeri," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, en.wikipedia.org (accessed February 7, 2021).
26. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 8.
27. ↑ Chapman v Luminis Pty Ltd (No 5) [2001] FCA 1106, (Federal Court of Australia, austlii.edu.au : accessed 8 Feb 2021)
28. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Chapter 5.
29. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen. Ngarrindjeri Nation: Genealogies of Ngarrindjeri Families, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, South Australia. 2006. Page 8. ISBN: 1862547254.
30. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Page 171.
31. ↑ Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Government of Australia. (Australian Honours Search Facility, honours.pmc.gov.au : accessed 8 Feb 2021) Centenary Medal granted to Dr Doreen Maude Kartinyeri, 1 Jan 2001, For service to the Indigenous community, particularly through the field of genealogy.
32. ↑ Kartinyeri, Doreen, Page 207.
33. ↑ South Australia BDM - Newspaper Death Notices
    Surname: KARTINYERI
    First Names: Doreen Maude
    Other Surnames: Not Recorded
    Date: (members only)
    Age: (members only)
    Source: (members only)
    Notice: Death
    Publication Date: (members only)
    Notes: Not Recorded
    EventYear: 2007

See also:

• Kartinyeri, Doreen and Anderson, Sue. My Ngarrindjeri Calling. Aboriginal Studies Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780855756598.
• Kartinyeri, Doreen. Ngarrindjeri Anzacs. c1998. ISBN: 0730807487
• Kartinyeri, Doreen. Narungga Nation. c2002
• Partington, Geoffrey. The Hindmarsh Island Bridge Fiasco. (News Weekly, archive.org archived at Wayback Machine] 4 Apr 2019, retrieved 8 Feb 2021)