C Nornalup

Placename

Nornalup

Type

Other

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"Starlight was my great, great, great grandmother. She was born just east of Kapagup on the banks of Deep Creek in Nornalup. She had a relationship and children with a settler called Samuel Piggott." (Samuel Piggott, according to the archives, was born in Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom in 1819 and came Western Australia as a soldier in the 51st regiment. He was stationed at York then at Albany. When in Albany in 1847 he married Lily Waters and they had twelve children. In 1849 his regiment was replaced, and it is possible that it was then that he settled on land along the Hay River). "Samuel Piggott was a naughty boy, he led my great, great, great grandmother astray. In those days land was being given to white settlers for farming, they were killing off the kangaroo and smaller animals that had been the major source of food for Nyoongars. Nyoongars had to work for settlers for food. Also there was a shortage of white women. It was not unusual for Nyoongar women to be raped or 'employed' by white men. It was very rare for white men to marry Nyoongar women, when they did they were usually punished by white society. It was rare for white men to take care of the children they made with Nyoongar woman. "There are two reasons why, in our family, we think that Samuel Piggott and Starlight loved each other. Starlight, is a very unusual name for a Nyoongar woman, we think that Samuel called her Starlight as a term of endearment. Samuel acknowledged the children, he helped to raise them, even though his wife didn't know about them. My great, great grandmother was one of those children. She grew up on the Hay River on land he farmed. Her name was Maggie Starlight." - Aden Eades

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C Tingle Forests

Placename

Tingle Forests

Type

Other

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Between Kapagup (Walpole) to Koorrabup (Denmark) is the Dingle Dingle (tingle) forest. These great towering trees were fortunate in being of little use to the loggers who took so much of the jarrah, karri and marri. Nyoongar people did not live in the forests, they are too thick and too dark (filtering 70% of sunlight) for yonga (kangaroo) and wedj (emu) to live, these formed the staple meat of Nyoongar diet. Nyoongars went into the forests for food and medicine. If they traversed the forest, they typically did so using the rivers. In many areas the floor of the forest is covered with kerebin (sword grass). If the blade is stroked towards the tip it will not hurt but if stroked towards the base it will cut skin. Walking through sword grass in bare feet and uncovered legs is painful and bloody! It is also out of respect that people should not go into the forest without good reason, their shallow roots of the dingle dingle would soon be disturbed if many feet were trampling around Dingle dingle trees are ancient; their antecedents have been here since Australia was still part of the super continent Gondwana. They are extremely tall but shallow rooted growing massive buttresses that form hollows at the base of the tree. They remain stable despite huge winds coming from the south because they grow in dense clusters, which dissipates high winds. The spirit of ancestors inhabit these hollows, if a Nyoongar person in the right frame of mind sits within the base of the tree they can communicate with the ancestor. To go into the tree for any other reason is a bad thing to do.

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C Hay River

Placename

Hay River

Type

Other

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Where Piggott farmed with his settler family: "There is an issue about the names. Piggott's surname went to his legitimate children. When Starlight was born she probably only had one name, when she had children with Piggott they were given two names, her first name as a surname and a first name. The first names are white names, so maybe he named them. They are decent white names not cruel names like Snowball or Sambo as some people got called. So Maggie and her brothers and sisters were the first children of what has become the Starlight clan. Some people believe that Piggott became mangled to Pickett and that's how the Pickett clan got its name." - Aden Eades

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