Compass: S39 Yes In My Backyard
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Burial of WA Mirning ancestors after more than 100 years shines light on violent history
Shilloh Peel can "feel in her bones" when she is home. WARNING: This article contains references to Indigenous people who have died and describes violence of a graphic nature. Even as a child, driving south-east from Kalgoorlie with her aunties, the first breath of sea breeze rising off the Nullarbor Plain always seemed like a greeting. "You could hear it, feel it, and see it," she says. The Mirning woman, who represents the Apical Dick Stott family line from Western Australia's Nullarbor, hopes the feeling still registers in the bones of her long-dead ancestors. On March 14, the remains of eight Mirning ancestors were returned to their country and buried. It is understood that the ancestors lived between the late 1800s and 1979, and their remains had most recently been stored at the WA Museum. While little is known about how they died, it is understood some may have been alive during a tragic period in the Nullarbor's history. Oral histories and a 140-year-old police report indicate murders and poisonings may have taken place on Mirning country during some of their lifetimes. Ms Peel, who chairs the WA Mirning People Aboriginal Corporation (WAMPAC), says she hopes her relatives are now at peace. "I get teary-eyed just thinking about it," she says. John Graham says the burial marked the best day of his 83-year-old life. The Mirning elder, who was recovering from a recent operation at the time, has spent decades lobbying to bring his eight ancestors back to their country. There was no way he was going to miss it. "It was up near 45 degrees," he remembers. The remains of the seven repatriated Mirning people were taken from the Nullarbor region between 1900 and 1991, with the eighth removed at an unknown date. They then fell into the hands of the WA Museum. Mr Graham and the WA Museum's head of anthropology and archaeology, Ross Chadwick, have been working to return them to country for decades. "They shouldn't have been taken away from there in the first place," Mr Graham says. "But back in them days, when they found remains, they just took them and put them in the museum." Mr Chadwick says the practice caused great pain across Indigenous communities. "[Repatriation] is a way of trying to heal that hurt," he says. "To address the trauma that comes from that and to empower communities to make decisions around the care of their ancestors in a way that provides them with strength and some sort of comfort." A WAMPAC spokesperson says two of the ancestors had been found in a Nullarbor cave in 1991 by cave explorers. It is understood the pair died in the late 1800s after possibly getting lost in the cave and running out of food and water. The spokesperson says five others were found close to Eucla — three in the early 1900s, one in 1979, and another at an unknown date — and taken by police, anthropologists, doctors and professors. Another man was taken, by an unknown person, from the Nullarbor Plain at some point before 1907. Mr Graham says he is relieved his ancestors are finally back where they belong. "Finally achieving something like that was a good feeling," he says. While it is not known how these ancestors died, Mr Graham says some may have lived during a horrific time in the region's history. "There was a lot of violence," he says. Mirning oral histories describe murders and poisonings on the Nullarbor Plain following colonisation. Mr Graham says knowledge of these struggles, passed down through his family, had made him even more motivated to bring the eight Mirning people home. In 1881, WA police constable George Truslove investigated claims that pastoralists William McGill and his partners Thomas and William Kennedy were mistreating Mirning people in the region. The hand-written police report, which has been seen by the ABC, included claims that McGill killed two people by feeding them poisoned pudding. Historian Peter Gifford, who analysed the police report in 1994, says McGill was also accused of shooting and cutting the throats of other Mirning people. "Truslove's report effectively accused McGill and the Kennedys of multiple murder," Mr Gifford's paper states. "Its contents were mostly hearsay, which then, as now, was not admissible in a court of law. "Yet, as an experienced police officer, he must have been aware of the gravity of such allegations, which would be seen at high governmental levels, and he cannot therefore have made them lightly." The allegations have not been widely reported. But Mr Gifford's paper goes on to note that similar allegations were made by overland telegraph stationmasters at Eyre and Eucla eight years later, which were again ignored by authorities. A Government Gazette extract shows McGill went on to be appointed a "protector of Aborigines" in 1894, despite the allegations. "The Mirning people of the southern Nullarbor were still denied anything resembling natural justice," the paper states. It also references the graves of 16 Aboriginal people "who had all come to violent ends" at the pastoralist's hands. A WAMPAC spokesperson says the impact of past brutality continues to be felt. "Oral histories speak of widespread violence, with many different individuals and institutions involved in acts of genocide," the spokesperson says. "This was part of a broader, systemic pattern seen across Australia. "Today, we're encouraged by the positive working relationships we have with pastoralists on Mirning country, who have been supportive of the Mirning people returning home." Traditional owners say they do not want to disclose the location of the recent burial site, out of fear it will be vandalised. But it is marked with a boulder and plaque. After the burial, around 60 people attended a barbecue with the Mirning community, where traditional foods were served and a speech was made. Ms Peel, whose parents are original WA Mirning native title claim applicants, says even though she never met her ancestors, it was a heartwarming experience. "They are home. They are at rest," she says.
