 1914 - 1956 (42 years)
-
| Name |
Frederick Wondunna |
| Born |
11 Feb 1914 |
Fraser Island/K'gari , Fraser Coast, Queensland, Australia  |
- Birth registration: Fred Wondunna
Birth date: 11/02/1914
Mother's name: Ethel Marrian Gribble Reeves
Father/parent's name: Frederick
Registration details: 1914/C/9564
(Queensland Birth Register 1829-1922_
The Wondunna Clan
At the beginning of the 20th century, my great-grandfather, Fred Wondunna, mostly lived on K'gari as a timber getter. On the island, he met Ethel Marion Reeves, the sister of the Rev. Ernest Gribble, who ran the Bogimbah Creek Mission. Fred was a rule breaker. Marriage to a white woman was not permitted in Queensland under The Act, so they crossed state lines. Already widowed, with one child from her former marriage, Ethel wed Fred in Sydney on 30 December 1907. They came back to live on the island at Wondunna's Camp away from prying eyes for her and steady employment for him. They had five children: Horace, Constance, Wilfred, Nowell and Olga.
At some point, Fred left the marriage to live independently away from the family. I believe it was due to having a broken heart. For over 14 years, he lived in Lismore, New South Wales where he dived and worked deep sea oyster beds. In a black and white photograph, there is a striking image of his masculinity on Kirra Beach. He is filling bottles of coloured sand with designs of ships on the inside of the glass. The sign reads, 'Wondunna, The Australian Aborigine, Sand Artist at Work.'
Fred returned to Maryborough towards the end of his life and passed away aged 70 on the 21 February 1956. Two of his children, my great uncle Wilfie and great aunty Olga, worked together writing and illustrating a children's book, The Legends of Moonie Jarl (Reeves and Miller 1964). I grew up pouring over the illustrations of my family's book. I never saw anything like it in other places. It was a treasured cultural object in our house that is now acknowledged as, the very first Indigenous children's book authored by Aboriginal people. (Miller 2016). It was also the start of the Wondunna clan's contribution to Badtjala cultural life through publications. In 2014, The Legends of Moonie Jarl was re-published for its 50th anniversary by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. My cousin Glen Miller (Aunty Olga's son) gave a speech at the University of Southern Queensland, Hervey Bay and many in the local community gathered for this joyous event (2016).
Uncle Wilfie and Aunty Olg's achievements were outstanding milestones for their time. Their brother Horace was also a high achiever in commerce. I never met my grandfather, Horace Wondunna, because he died at sea under mysterious circumstances, along with two other crew members (Charlie Warner and Sam Kanupan), at the young age of 31. His body was never found. That fateful fishing trip would have been the last payment on his commercial fishing boat. Horace Wondunna and Sammy Kanupan are remembered on the plaque along with others, In Memory of Fishermen Lost at Sea, Urangan. See Figure 12b.
This tragedy set in train a momentous change for the lives of his wife Alma, and their four children: Noela, Coygne, Horace, and my mother, Shirley. My mother, the youngest of the four, grew up never knowing her father. Yet she, too, would inherit a decisive strength of character and an independent way of viewing the world.
From, The People of K?Gari/Fraser Island: Working through 250 Years of Racial Double Coding.
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, South Brisbane 4101, Australia
?
Note: Fiona Foley is an artist, academic and provocateur. Over a career now spanning thirty years she has explored the frontier wars waged against Aboriginal peoples and brought the ?hidden histories? of the massacres and Queensland state sanctioned opium use into galleries, public spaces, and a broader, society-wide debate.
Genealogy 2020, 4(3), 74; h
Received: 28 May 2020 / Revised: 1 July 2020 / Accepted: 2 July 2020 / Published: 8 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decolonizing Ways of Knowing: Heritage, Living Communities, and Indigenous Understandings of Place)
- The Wondunna Clan
) At the beginning of the 20th century, my great-grandfather, Fred Wondunna, mostly lived on K?gari as a timber getter. On the island, he met Ethel Marion Reeves, the sister of the Rev. Ernest Gribble, who ran the Bogimbah Creek Mission. Fred was a rule breaker. Marriage to a white woman was not permitted in Queensland under The Act, so they crossed state lines. Already widowed, with one child from her former marriage, Ethel wed Fred in Sydney on 30 December 1907. They came back to live on the island at Wondunna?s Camp?away from prying eyes for her and steady employment for him. They had five children: Horace, Constance, Wilfred, Nowell and Olga.
At some point, Fred left the marriage to live independently away from the family. I believe it was due to having a broken heart. For over 14 years, he lived in Lismore, New South Wales where he dived and worked deep sea oyster beds. In a black and white photograph, there is a striking image of his masculinity on Kirra Beach. He is filling bottles of coloured sand with designs of ships on the inside of the glass. The sign reads, ?Wondunna, The Australian Aborigine, Sand Artist at Work.? See Figure 11.
Fred returned to Maryborough towards the end of his life and passed away aged 70 on the 21 February 1956. Two of his children?my great uncle Wilfie and great aunty Olga?worked together writing and illustrating a children?s book, The Legends of Moonie Jarl (Reeves and Miller 1964). I grew up pouring over the illustrations of my family?s book. I never saw anything like it in other places. It was a treasured cultural object in our house that is now acknowledged as, ?the very first Indigenous children?s book authored by Aboriginal people? (Miller 2016). See Figure 12a. It was also the start of the Wondunna clan?s contribution to Badtjala cultural life through publications. In 2014, The Legends of Moonie Jarl was re-published for its 50th anniversary by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. My cousin Glen Miller (Aunty Olga?s son) gave a speech at the University of Southern Queensland, Hervey Bay and many in the local community gathered for this joyous event (2016).
Uncle Wilfie and Aunty Olga?s achievements were outstanding milestones for their time. Their brother Horace was also a high achiever in commerce. I never met my grandfather, Horace Wondunna, because he died at sea under mysterious circumstances, along with two other crew members (Charlie Warner and Sam Kanupan), at the young age of 31. His body was never found. That fateful fishing trip would have been the last payment on his commercial fishing boat. Horace Wondunna and Sammy Kanupan are remembered on the plaque along with others, In Memory of Fishermen Lost at Sea, Urangan. See Figure 12b.
This tragedy set in train a momentous change for the lives of his wife Alma, and their four children: Noela, Coygne, Horace, and my mother, Shirley. My mother, the youngest of the four, grew up never knowing her father. Yet she, too, would inherit a decisive strength of character and an independent way of viewing the world.
From, The People of K?Gari/Fraser Island: Working through 250 Years of Racial Double Coding.
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, South Brisbane 4101, Australia
?
Note: Fiona Foley is an artist, academic and provocateur. Over a career now spanning thirty years she has explored the frontier wars waged against Aboriginal peoples and brought the ?hidden histories? of the massacres and Queensland state sanctioned opium use into galleries, public spaces, and a broader, society-wide debate.
Genealogy 2020, 4(3), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4030074
Received: 28 May 2020 / Revised: 1 July 2020 / Accepted: 2 July 2020 / Published: 8 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decolonizing Ways of Knowing: Heritage, Living Communities, and Indigenous Understandings of Place
|
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
21 Feb 1956 |
Queensland, Australia |
- Death registration: Frederick Wondunna
Death date: 21/02/1956
Mother's name: -
Father/parent's name: William Wondunna
Registration details: 1956/C/770
(Queensland Death Index 1929-1992)
WONDUNNA
Last Name WONDUNNA
Other Names FREDERICK
Age 65
Birth Place UNKNOWN
Date of Burial 22/02/1956
Last Address 20 CYPRESS ST, HERVEY BAY
Cemetery Maryborough Cemetery
Cemetery Address. cnr Walker Street & Bruce Highway, Maryborough West QLD 4650
Burial Type Burial
Section Maryborough - Monumental R
Plot 56
Funeral Director LESLIE G ROSS
Minister MAJOR MACCARTHY
(Fraser Coast Regional Council Cemetery Search)
|
| Buried |
22 Feb 1956 |
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia |
| Person ID |
I17930 |
Hickey, List, Bundesen, Thomsen, Jensen, Jessen |
| Last Modified |
22 Apr 2022 |
| Family |
Ethel Marion Reeves (née Gribble), b. 20 May 1879, Jerilderie, New South Wales, Australia , d. 28 Jun 1965, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia (Age 86 years) |
| Married |
30 Dec 1907 |
Sidney, New South Wales, Australia |
- 50/1908
WONDUNNA FRED
REEVES ETHEL
SYDNEY
(New South Wales Marriage Index)
|
| Children |
| + | 1. Olga Eunice Reeves Wondunna, b. 27 Mar 1920, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia , d. 28 Aug 2003, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia (Age 83 years) |
|
| Last Modified |
22 Apr 2022 |
| Family ID |
F6408 |
Group Sheet |
|
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