Gloria Fay Brennan (1948 - 1985)

Born 12 Sep 1948 in Leonora, Western Australia, Australia

Died 2 Nov 1985 at age 37 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joan Gray [send private message]

Biography

Gloria Brennan is an Indigenous Australian.

Gloria Fay Brennan was born on 12 September 1948 in Leonora, Western Australia, to Myrtle Brennan (née Goodilyer) and James Brennan, a woodcutter, and was of Pindiini (Nyanganyatjara) descent^[1][2]. She was their 2nd child, and while still young learnt to speak the (Wudjari) language fluently. Choo (2007) has that it was the Wongi language, and that Gloria claimed Weebo (north of Leonora, near Leinster), probably Weebo Station, as her country. 'Wudjari' would seem to be an error as they lived on the south coast in Noongar country, whereas 'Wongi' does correspond with the Wangkatha of the Eastern Goldfields.

She attended primary schools at Leonora (Gwalia in ref.1), Laverton and Menzies, topping the class at the last while helping with the children in the first three grades. Holidays for her and her siblings were spent with their Aboriginal Grandmothers, camping, finding bush tucker and listening to stories about their spirit ancestors. Her parents were able to afford to send her to High Schools in Kalgoorlie and Perth.

After leaving High School she went to work for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in Perth, in programming, from 1966 to 1971. While there she was inspired by Charles Perkins, John Moriaty, Margaret Valadian and David Anderson, who were the speakers at a 1969 Summer School at the University of Western Australia titled 'Aboriginal Progress—A New Era?’. This stimulated the 23 year old to enrol in the Bachelor of Arts course at the University in 1971, majoring in anthropology. She also studied linguistics, English, history and music, the last showing talents in classical music and singing, receiving her BA degree in 1978.

In 1972, Gloria Fay Brennan was on the Electoral Roll (ER) giving her residence at 11/159 Fairway, Nedlands, Perth and her occupation as Student. At that time, James and Myrtle Brennan, her father and mother, were on the ER for Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, resident at 16e Campbell Street, with James a Miner and Myrtle doing Home Duties.

During that time, she became a member of the Aboriginal Advancement Council of Western Australia and of the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship in 1971, then a co-founder in 1973 and casual field officer of the Aboriginal Legal Service in Western Australia, of which Aboriginal Activist Ken Colbung was a founding Chairperson. For the Legal Service she was involved with the domestic violence task force and in 1974-75 was an interpreter with the legal team investigating allegations of police brutality at Skull Creek, near Laverton [in which 75 to 100 Indigenous people are estimated to have been massacred^[3]]. In the mid-1970s she helped to found the Aboriginal Medical Service in Western Australia - [presumably the 'Perth Aboriginal Medical Service (PAMS)' in 1973^[4]] - and joined the Aboriginal Women’s Council and the Black Australian Women’s Movement. In 1975 she joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Perth, becoming a senior research officer and a community adviser. (Choo, 2007.)

By 1978, Gloria Fay Brennan was on the ER resident at 16e Campbell Street, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, giving her occupation as Clerk, with her father, James Brennan, a Miner, mother Myrtle Brennan doing Home Duties, and Hector James Brennan also a Miner. In 1980, Gloria Faye Brennan was on the ER at 45 Sprent Street, Narbindah, Canberra, ACT as a Public Servant. There are 41 other Brennans on that ER but none at Sprent Street!

Her busy life, devoted to helping her people, covered so well by Christine Choo (2007), which involved extensive travel, was sadly cut short by her early death from Cancer on 2 November 1985 in Perth. She was buried with Anglican rites in the Eastern Goldfields, in Wangatha country, in Kalgoorlie Cemetery. Gloria Fay Brennan's FindAGrave record only has the year date 1985, with the cemetery at Kalgoorlie–Boulder, Kalgoorlie-Boulder City, Western Australia, Australia^[5].

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Brennan
2. ↑ The original source for the tribal names appears to be "Horton, David (ed.). The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, Vol. 1, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1994, pp. 151-152'
3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/210730945611610/posts/a-brutal-massacre-occurred-in-laverton-western-australia-in-1975-by-the-western-/1606518422699515/
4. ↑ https://www.ahcwa.org.au/our-history
5. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152627409

• Christine Choo, 'Brennan, Gloria Fay (1948–1985)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brennan-gloria-fay-12251/text21981, published first in hardcopy 2007.
• Residence and Occupation: Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 1972