In Principio August 2017

Aboriginal people lived on the Anne St. Reserve between 1968 and 1982. It was situated on the periphery of town, surrounded by bushland and within walking distance—along tracks and through scrub—of Chinatown, Nulungu College and the Town Beach. In the early 80s, families living there were moved into mainstream State Housing in nearby areas of Broome. The Anne Street Reserve was flattened and redeveloped by the State Housing Commission. Today barely a trace remains, apart from a number of well-established trees. But memories of life on the Anne Street Reserve are still held dear by many families. Many different languages were spoken on the Reserve: Yawuru, Nyangumarta, Karajarri, Baard, Nyul Nyul and Mangala, and traditional dancing and songs were part of daily life. Research has established that hundreds of people, literally dozens of families, lived on the Reserve at some point over the 14 years of its existence. What started out as a simple social history project by Nulungu Research Institute has yielded some surprising stories, and uncovered a part of Broome history that was unrecorded, but far from forgotten. The research team has been overwhelmed by the number of people who wish to engage with the project, and have their memories of life on the Reserve recorded for future generations. They are happy that their stories will be recorded, and that they will form part of wider narratives around the history of the town of Broome. One of the extraordinary things about these memories is that the vast majority has very happy memories of the Anne St Reserve. People do refer in passing to the material poverty of their living conditions, but then go on to recall how peaceful life was on the Reserve was, how pervasive was the sense of community and wellbeing. They also recall a sense of real abundance – always plenty of fish, turtle and dugong, as well bush tucker being shared among the families. N U L U N G U The Anne St Reserve existed close to where the current centre of Broome is today, and contained 12 houses, made entirely of tin, and comprising just two small bedrooms. Shared ablution blocks were out the back. From all accounts, large families resided in these tiny houses, with people often sleeping out on the verandas. At any given time, there were as many as 130 people living on the Reserve. Anna and Kathryn spoke about the Anne St Reserve Project at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Conference held in Canberra earlier this year. As part of the research process, Kathryn (third from left) and Anna (fourth from left) have sourced a number of old photographs of people living on the reserve, and of places around Broome. They have also identified materials from the State Records Office, old files from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the now defunct Department of Native Welfare which refer to the establishment of the Reserve. A community meeting was held in late 2016 to share some of the materials with people who have memories of the Reserve, and to provide an opportunity for people to identify individuals in the photographs. The section outlined in red indicates the location of the Anne Street Reserve in context of the current Broome town.  I N P R I N C I P I O | 1 5