Meet the team
Lindsay Calyun (centre) with fellow storytellers at Moorditj Footprints community meeting, City Farm Perth, 3 October 2021
Moorditj Footprints is a community led project to collect and share the memories of Aboriginal people who lived in East Perth in the 1950s, '60s & '70s.
The project was started by Noongar Elder Lindsay Calyun, who grew up in East Perth in the 1960s. Uncle Lindsay wanted to record the yarns of Noongar storytellers and families who once called East Perth home. His dream was to leave a lasting record of the community that was once home to many Aboriginal people. Lindsay's dream was supported by Elders Marie Pryor, Shirley Harris and a broader group of Elders, family and friends who had a shared love for East Perth.
Contributors
The team are grateful to the following contributors and their family members who have shared stories or information so far:
Rebecca Bairnsfather-Scott; John Bairnsfather-Scott; Anna Battaglia; Anthony Battaglia; Daniella Borg; Kathleen Burton; Keisha Calyun; Lindsay Calyun; Helen Chalson; Gordon Cole; June Della Bona; Joanne Della Bona; Stephen Della Bona; Robert Eggington; Selina Eggington; Gail Farrell; Roni Forrest; Judy Gelmi; Ron Gidgup Jnr; Ron Gigdup Snr; Shirley Harris; Tina Hayden; Shirleen Humphries; Brett Ingram; Ayden Ingram; Roy Jackson; Steven Jackson; Mary Anne Jebb; Les Jones; Noelene Jones; Lillian Lennox; Roy Lennox; Roma Loo; Sharon Loo; Liz Marcus; Yvonne May (Dano); Toogarr Morrison; Margaret Ogilvie; Tomasia Passmore Skey; Melanie Pearmine; John Pell; Janice Pell; Charmaine Pell; Fred Penny; Paris Pryor; Lorraine Pryor; Marie Pryor; John Rich; Victor Ronan; Brenda Woods (Greenfield); Valerie Woods; Mary Yarran; Mona Yarran; Doreen Yarran Kickett Creed.
In Memoriam
Over the course of the project, several key supporters passed away including June Della Bona (nee Garlett Quartermaine); Doreen Yarran Kickett Creed; Roma Loo and John Pell. The project team pays respects to the storytellers who have passed away and is deeply grateful to their families for allowing their voices to be heard and shared.
DorreenYarran Kickett Creed and June Della Bona sharing a laugh at the first Moorditj Footprints community meeting, Mount Lawley 25 July 2020
Story Collecting
In 2020, a team of story collectors and project supporters including Ivy Penny, Susanna Iuliano, Brenton Rossow , John Rich, Irma Woods and Jemma King, began meeting and yarning with families about East Perth Over the next 18 months, the team held three community meetings and ten interviews with former and current East Perth residents. The group reached out to the City of Vincent Local History Centre, and to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries who provided funding support and practical help to record and share the stories.
Community meetings
Forrest Park Croquet Club Mount Lawley, 25 July 2020
The first meeting at the Forrest Park Croquet Club provided an opportunity for Lindsay and friends to gauge interest in the project from community members and get a sense for the kinds of untold stories which participants may want to share.
City Farm East Perth, 3 October 2020
Aboriginal Advancement Council 201 Beaufort Street Perth, 25 October 2021
Interviews
Following on from the public meetings, interviews were conducted by Project Coordinator Irma Woods, and oral historian and sound recordist Jemma King. Extra material was also provided by videographer and photographer Brenton Rossow.
Despite the challenge of coordinating a story collecting program with Elders and seniors during the COVID pandemic, ten interviews were collected between October 2021 and November 2022. These were transcribed, edited and curated by project historian Susanna Iuliano and audio curator and sound recordist Jemma King.
Jemma King, Lindsay Calyun & Irma Woods.
Irma Woods interviewing Lindsay Calyun on the river at East Perth.
Interviewees
Lindsay Calyun
Lindsay Calyun Woods was born in Goomalling in 1954 to parents Ruby Calyun and Garth Woods. His family moved to Pinjarra in 1955 and then to East Perth in the late 1950s. Lindsay grew up in East Perth, living with family (brother Lyall and sister Aileen) and his aunties (Bonnie Morrison and Rosie Woods) around Kensington Street and Claisebrook Road. He went to East Perth Primary School and played all around East Perth. In 1965, he was taken away from his family and sent to Roelands Mission, a farm property used to house Aboriginal children from the Stolen Generations. Lindsay escaped Roelands Mission and returned to family in East Perth in 1968. Lindsay was interviewed on 15 December 2021.
Gordon Cole
Gordon Cole is a Noongar who currently lives in East Perth. Gordon grew up with his family in East Perth in the 1970s. His mother’s parents were Blanche Anderson and Hubert Headland Senior. His father’s parents were Mercy Farrell and Tom Cole. Gordon is the former Chair of the Perth Noongar Regional Council and has worked in business and government. He was interviewed on 18 September 2022.
Dorren Creed (nee Yarran Kickett)
Doreen Sarah-Jane Yarran Kickett Creed was born in 1947 at the Badjaling Mission near Quairading. Her father died in 1951 and her mother left Badjaling for Tammin with Doreen and her brothers living in Tammin, and later York and then Allawah Grove Reserve in Perth. She was eventually placed in Mogumber Mission at Moore River and when she came out of the Mission at aged 16 she lived on the streets of East Perth and at Allawah Grove. In the late 1960s, Doreen lived in a house on Royal Street East Perth and had many memories of the area when she was interviewed on 29 October 2021. Doreen passed away in March 2022 aged 75. Her words and stories are shared with permission of her children Daniella, Mark, Shirleen & Vernon.
June Della Bona (nee Garlett Quartermaine)
June Della Bona (nee Garlett Quartermaine) grew up in Mullewa and then moved to Perth, first living at Allawah Grove in Guildford and then East Perth in the 1960s. She went to Perth Modern High School and lived in the heart of East Perth near Wellington Square. She married Laurie Della Bona whose family owned the Della Bona grocery shop on Bennett Street near Wellington Square. June passed away in 2021 before she could be formally interviewed, but her recorded contribution from the very first Moorditj Footprints community meeting on 25 July 2020 has been included with permission from her family.
Ron Gidgup Snr
Ron Gidgup Senior was born in St John of God Hospital, Subiaco in 1934. His family moved to Carnarvon where Ron grew up on an out station, before his family moved to Bruce Rock in the 1940s. In the early 1950s, Ron came to Perth and trained as a boxer with the East Perth Police Boys Club. He fought in the light heavyweight division at the Unity Theatre on Beaufort Street, Perth. He also travelled as part of Sandy Moore’s Boxing Troupe and toured around the South West. Through the East Perth Police Boys Club, he got a job as a labourer at Fremantle Wharf. Around this time, Ron met Winsome(‘Winnie’) Fay Little at a Coolbaroo Club dance in Perth and they got married in 1952. The pair later learned from their parents that they had known each other as children in Carnarvon where they had played together at ‘Yankee Town’ in East Carnarvon. Winnie and Ron moved to Bruce Rock and had nine children. Winnie cared for the children while Ron became a professional shearer travelling all over the state from the Kimberley to Esperance to support his family. Ron and Winnie later moved to Brunswick Junction where Ron worked as a leading hand for the Shire of Harvey. Ron was interviewed on 16 October 2022.
Brenda Greenfield (nee Woods)
Brenda is a Noongar Yamatji woman. She was was born in Gnowangerup in 1957. Her father was Oliver Cleave Woods from Gnowangerup and her mother was a Yamatji Wajarri woman from Mullewa. Brenda lived and worked in East Perth in the 1970s before moving to Belmont where she has lived and worked for the last 30 years. Brenda was interviewed on 15 September 2022.
Shirley Harris
Shirley Ruby Kickett Harris is a Ballardong Noongar Elder born in Northam in 1954. Her mother was Iris Pearl (Pearl Harris) and her family moved frequently around Perth to avoid being taken away by the Native Welfare Department during the 1950s and ‘60s. Shirley’s experience of East Perth in the 1950s and ‘60s was of visiting and staying with family and friends in the area. Shirley with interviewed together with Marie Pryor on 4 November 2021.
Roma Loo
Roma Loo was born on Badjaling Mission near Quairading. Her father was Oliver Kickett and worked on the farms and shearing at Quairading. He later became the caretaker at Allawah Grove. She lived with her grandmother and went to school in Tammin before being removed by the Native Welfare Department aged ten. She moved to East Perth and has memories of the Coolbaroo Club dances in the 1950s and early 1960s. She lived with Kickett family relatives on Brown Street East Perth before the family moved to Coolbellup. Roma was interviewed by Brenton Rossow at the Moorditj Footprints community meeting at the Aboriginal Advancement Council on 3 October 2021.
John Pell
John Pell participated in several Moorditj Footprints community meetings and was a strong supporter of the project who shared valuable information, including a list of Noongar families of East Perth he compiled. The Pells lived for many years at 44 Wickham Street, East Perth which is where John grew up in with his two brothers and sister and many relatives who would stay with them when they were visiting from the country. John’s mother worked as a domestic at Royal Perth Hospital and also for the family of former Premier Sir Charles Court. Due to John's failing health, he was not interviewed individually but gave permission to share a copy of an earlier interview conducted with him by Mary Anne Jebb for the East Perth Power Station project on 20 July 2006. John passed away in May 2023. His stories are used with generous permission of his family and interviewer Mary Anne Jebb.
Marie Pryor
Marie Pryor Kickett-Garlett was born in 1954 at King Edward Hospital in Subiaco. She is a Ballardong Elder whose family were from around Carnarvon. Marie’s first contact with East Perth was at Bennett House, a transit hostel for Aboriginal children and adults from rural and regional areas, many of whom were members of the stolen generation. Marie and her three brothers were taken by Native Welfare to Bennett House before being sent to Marribank Mission near Katanning where she lived and went to school. Her mother moved from Carnarvon down to East Perth in the early 1960s and Marie went to live with her family in East Perth when she was aged around 11. She went to East Perth Primary School in Grades 6 and 7 and then went to Perth Modern until Year 10. Marie lived in East Perth with family until the 1970s when she moved to Cloverdale. She continued going back to East Perth for community dances and events and maintains a strong connection to people in the area through her community and church work. Marie was interviewed together with Shirley Harris on 4 November 2021.
Valerie Woods
Valerie Woods was born in Gnowangerup. She was sent with a group of other Aboriginal children from to the Mount Lawley Receiving Home in 1967. She went to school in Maylands and has memories of playing with friends and family along the river at East Perth. Val was interviewed on 5 November 2022.