In conversation
- Elizabeth Connors
- John Kennedy
- Recorded
- 2012
- Length
- 30:45
- Part
- 1 of 2
“We were walking out the door crying and that's when our two brothers started a fight and the welfare people ran away.”
About this conversation
Elizabeth Connors (Aunty Liz) shares with John Kennedy some of what life was like on Longully Aboriginal Mission in Tingha in the 1930s.
John Kennedy asks Elizabeth Connors ('Aunty Liz') to talk about her life, beginning with her birth in 1926 in Bassendean, Tingha, NSW. Elizabeth describes her early life at Longully Mission, including how she and her siblings escaped being taken away by 'the Welfare' after her mother died. She speaks of being brought up by her older brothers, of working as domestic help on large properties, and of her marriage to her husband and his death in 1970. She mentions the various places in the New England area where she and her family lived over the years, and talks of life in Southside, Inverell, where she now lives. Much of Elizabeth's story focuses on how she raised over 25 children, including her brother's children, various grandchildren and great-grandchildren and 15 unrelated foster children. Elizabeth names her family lineage, and she and John reflect on the importance of family for Aboriginal people.