1850s - 1931

Ellen was the daughter of Illawarra man Burragalong (1810s-1877) and Botany Bay woman Biyarrung (c.1810-1888). Both her father and mother were senior people within their communities and well-known identities in the Illawarra and Botany Bay areas in the mid-19th Century. Ellen expressed her identity by saying: ‘My Mother was of the north; my Father was of the south; I speak between the two.’

While she remained connected to her traditional lands, she was also influenced by the increasing interventions of the government and missionaries from the 1880s. She was one of 23 people from Coastal Sydney who travelled to the Maloga Mission on the Murray River with missionary Daniel Matthews in 1881. There she met and married Hugh Anderson (c.1856–1928), an Aboriginal man from the Goulburn Valley in Victoria.

Ellen and Hugh tried to raise their family as much as possible outside of government control. They worked and camped with other Aboriginal families and established their own settlement at Kangaroo Valley in the 1890s. Here, with the help of Aboriginal teacher Frank Foster (c.1870 - 1941), they started a school for Aboriginal children to ensure the community maintained a strong connection to culture and traditions, as well as being able to function and thrive in a Western lifestyle as they navigated having a foot in both worlds.

In the 1920s, Ellen purchased land at Salt Pan Creek near Bankstown, which became a haven for Aboriginal people in a time of segregation and government control. Ellen and Hugh were publicly vocal and fought against the poor living conditions and ill treatment of Aboriginal people. They advocated and built awareness to gain better resources and supplies to create a better quality of life for their family and community.

Ellen’s extensive knowledge of her people’s customs, religious beliefs and sacred places kept her connected to her people, culture and Country, fuelled by her childhood memories grounded in the roots of her ancestors. But she also wanted to share this knowledge to build a better understanding of her people. In the 1920s, she often visited amateur anthropologist C.W. Peck in his repair workshop at Bondi. He recorded a number of Dreaming stories relating to Coastal Sydney, the Illawarra and Appin. These were published in his book ‘Australian Legends’.

Ellen has many proud descendants today, some of whom live in the La Perouse Aboriginal community.

Courtesy the Gujaga Foundation and the State Library of New South Wales.