Mooditch Footprints

In his memoir, ‘Mooditch Footprints’, Goomalling-born Noongar elder Lindsay Calyun writes of being taken from his family in East Perth when he was 11 years old: “In 1965 I was taken from primary school, two police men took me from school. I didn’t know where I was going to stop next. I ended up in Mt Lawley Receiving Home, then was taken to Longmore for one night and then next morning I was picked up by a missionary and taken to Roelands”. Lindsay escaped from Roelands in 1968 and returned to his parents in East Perth. “It was good days when we were young growing up in East Perth. Some old people were there, no house, they slept everywhere down by the river, alongside the railway line. Even in the parks around West Perth, but they would come to East Perth to meet other old people. “They were from the stolen generation. Moore River gang and Carrolup mob. My father was taken away from his mother, he was in Moore River. My mother was taken too, she was in Carrolup and Moore River but they didn’t talk about that.” Mooditch Footprints was awarded equal second prize in the Vincent Local History Awards in November 2020. Vincent mayor Emma Cole said that local historians are keen to learn more from Mr Calyun. “We are very fortunate that [Mr Calyun] entered his memoir into the awards. Lindsay’s reflections on the close-knit Aboriginal community in East Perth are significant and his memoir shows just how close to home the experiences of the Stolen Generations are for many Noongar elders in Perth.” Mooditch Footprints is available online from the Vincent Library, at: https://librarycatalogue.vincent.wa.gov.au/client/ en_GB/search/asset/1173/0

Photos

Top right: Lindsay Calyun (courtesy of Rockingham History Project Facebook page).

Left: “Boys at play in East Perth at Miller’s Timber Yard 1960s.” Young Lindsay Calyun is standing facing the camera.

Images of Norseman Mission

Many thanks to

Jennifer Bonney for sharing her photos of Norseman Mission with the Tuart Place Historical Photos Collection. This photo shows children with the mission bus in the early 1960s.