CURLEWIS Community Hall was packed to capacity last weekend as more than 250 descendants of the Gomeroi people gathered for a family reunion in the traditional lands of their ancestors.
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Nearly 12 months in the planning, the reunion organised by Gunnedah’s Kate Knight (formerly Natty) and Anne Wright (Aldridge), of Wollongong, was for descendants of George Percival Glenister and Mary Ann Natty.
The day began with a traditional Welcome to Country dance by Aboriginal dancer Eric Natty and his nephew Casey Natty, with the story of the ancestral Red Kangaroo, also told in dance.
Winanga-Li Aboriginal Child and Family Centre Manager, Wayne Griffiths, welcomed his relatives in the traditional Gamilaroi language as well as English and spoke a little about the new centre and how the youngsters are learning a little of the language of their ancestors each week.
Two prominent figures in the family’s genealogy are Mary Orr, who was born on the property Garrawilla around 1853 and Yawirawiri Murri Ganur, who was given the English name of Natty by European settlers.
Yawirawiri is documented to have led a war party of local Burburgate warriors to a battle with the Wee Waa tribe in the early 1800s.
The brother of Irish ancestor Ebeneezer Orr ventured south to Victoria and was never heard of again until recently when Bronwen Thomas made the connection during her family research. Many members of that branch travelled north for the reunion.
A group of family members worked tirelessly to create and bring together displays of old photos from each branch from as far back as the early 1900s.
Also on display were family tree spreadsheets prepared by the Native Title Services Corporation showing the widespread family connections of the Beale, Aldridge, Griffiths, Leslie, Natty and Sampson families to George Percival Glenister, his first wife Mary Ann Natty and second wife Lucy Saunders.
Family members also took the opportunity to visit significant areas of Curlewis including the local cemetery where a large number of their ancestors were laid to rest.
June Cox and her daughter Alison from the local Sampson family have also worked tirelessly to beautify the old graves and surroundings for this special occasion.
