Sydney Elders
Continuing Aboriginal Stories
Aunty Esme Timbery
is a celebrated Bidjigal artist and elder from the Aboriginal mission community of La Perouse on the shores of Botany Bay. She comes from a long line of Timberys and, like her ancestors, is renowned for her shellwork.
Bidjigal Country
Botany Bay
About this project‘That’s my brother’
That’s my brother, Assan Timbery, and my father in the background [image left], at the old fig tree at the bottom of the mission. They’re making boomerangs. They used to get mangrove wood over at Weeny Bay or Kurnell. They’d be there all day collecting the elbows for the boomerangs. They’d put them in the boat, which would nearly be sinking coming home across the bay. All the men did woodwork, they made boomerangs, nulla nullas and shields, while the ladies made the shellwork. On the weekends people would come out to La Perouse to see the Aboriginals throwing the boomerangs and have a look at the shellwork.
(inset) John Timbery with Rosina Cavanagh at his stall at the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) Show, 1963, photographer unrecorded; (background) Aboriginal reserve at La Perouse, date and photographer unrecorded
‘My Aunty May’
My Aunty May reared me up. I remember that fur coat, that’s her all over. She was a very good woman, a Christian woman. And that’s our house. Uncle Bob built that verandah up so my cousin Marj and I could sleep there. When we were growing up, we’d have dinner and before we could wash up my Aunty May would pull out the ukulele. She loved playing it. And Uncle Bob would get the harp for a singalong. Well, before long there was that many people in our house you couldn’t move. They’d be everywhere, in the yard, under the table, and everyone would sing. It was lovely, the music that was going on.
May Simms, c1940s, photographer unrecorded
La Perouse, c1953, photo by Max Dupain & Associates
Aboriginal Reserve at La Perouse before demolition, c1971, photographer unrecorded
‘That little church’
Our lives revolved around that little church. We were there all the time. It was like a second home to us. Every Saturday we’d go into the bush and we’d get pocketfuls of wildflowers and take them back to decorate the church. Five corners and ten corners, flannel flowers and Christmas bells. I remember the day of that photo. We were Christian Endeavourers and we used to get invitations to sing at different churches, but this day was special. We were going to the Town Hall to sing. We had good voices back in those days. There’s been a terrible lot of memories in that little church. It was a blessing to go inside.
Christian Endeavourers group before leaving for Sydney Town Hall, 1961, photo by Alma Smith and Alva Atkins
Shell church, made by Aunty Esme Timbery, 2018
Tram at the La Perouse ‘Loop’, c1950, photo by Len A Clark
Learning activities
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How can oral histories help us to understand the lived experience of Indigenous people?
Read nowAboriginal Studies Years 7-10: Core Part 1 — Aboriginal identities
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