Acknowledging and paying respect to the Traditional Custodians of the land and respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
In particular the lands that relate to the Gray and Freeburn families; the Bundjalung of the far North East Coast of NSW including the Yaegl people lived around the mouth of the Clarence River where the little cottage still stands.
Some of the story of the Yaegl peoples is recorded on the Port of Yamba Historical Society website https://www.pyhsmuseum.org.au/yaegl-culture including a little about the discovery of the river, firstly by Captain Matthew Flinders who mistook the river entrance as a bay on his journey up the coast in 1799. Matthew Flinders ‘described large bark huts with rounded passageway entrances which protected dwellers from wind and rain. Similarly, Captain Perry (1839) described canoes of a superior construction. Yaegl people initially co-existed with the early settlers but their numbers decreased markedly after selectors took up the land for maize and later cane growing. The locking up of land in small farms and displacing the original owners was not a deliberate policy of dispossession but certainly had that effect.‘ 1
The Story House is just along River Street, a place where the Yaegl peoples lived for a time as they were moved from their traditional lands. The story house and the Port of Yamba Historical Society acknowledges the traditional owners and have worked with the local Yaegl community on gardens and artwork for the grounds and buildings of the Story House and Museum. Elder Ron Heron talks about some of the local plants:
https://www.myclarencevalley.com/inspiration/stories/yaegl-elder-ron-heron
The Lower Clarence Aboriginal Tourist Site Drive dedicated to Mrs Annie Randall a highly respected Yaegl member shows sites of significance;
https://www.myclarencevalley.com/inspiration/stories/lower-clarence-aboriginal-tourist-site-drive
The Yaegl People, of the north coast of New South Wales, have had their traditional sea rights recognised in an historic Federal Court ruling. https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2017/08/31/yaegl-people-first-nsw-have-sea-rights-recognised
Francis Freeburn, was my grandfather’s great grandfather and my three times great grandfather who arrived at ‘Wooli’ in 1854 followed by his wife Elizabeth and growing family. Francis was the first Pilot to help ships navigate the treacherous entrance to the Clarence River. His story will be told elsewhere.
A newpaper article in 1930 stated ‘the pilot, who was a man of great tact and lovable disposition, soon won the trust of the blacks by his fairness and firmness.’ 2
Francis and Elizabeth’s daughter Jane, my great great grandmother, was the first white girl born in Yamba and the Freeburn family is believed to have always had a great respect for, and close relationship with, the first nations Yaegl people.
Francis and Elizabeth trusted the Yaegl peoples including with the care of their daughter Jane as they looked after her when she walked from the lighthouse hill down into the town after helping out her father on pilot hill. In her obituary in 1936 Jane Frances Schaumann nee Freeburn and her father’s relationship with the Yaegl community is acknowledged; ‘[Francis Freeburn] won their [Yaegl community] confidence and affection, and they called him “Budgeree Billy Barlow,” by which name he was known to them up to the time of his death in the late seventies. Captain Freeburn had no hesitation in using the [local indigenous peoples] as a bodyguard for his young daughter between, the lighthouse and the house, and his trust in them was never misplaced.‘ 3
These relationships continued with future generations, certainly in our family including with my grandfather and father, this has always been the case.
References
- https://www.pyhsmuseum.org.au/yaegl-culture
- Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 – 1954) View title info Mon 1 Sep 1930 Page 3 EARLY SHIPPING DAYS
- Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 – 1954) Tue 29 Dec 1936 Page 4 MRS. JANE FRANCES SCHAUMANN.
A Cottage By The Sea 