Mary Angeline Morgan

Mary Angeline Morgan

Mary Angeline Morgan died on May 29, aged 83. She was the last "full-blood" Koori in Victoria. Born at Carrenderk Aboriginal mission near Healesville, where the Great Dividing Range starts just north of Melbourne, she lived for many years at the Lake Tyers mission in East Gippsland.

"Momma Morgan", "Auntie Angie" and "Our Bingo Queen", as she was variously known, was much loved, well respected and widely known among her people. About 200 people attended a funeral service for her at the Aboriginal Advancement League centre on June 5. She was buried at Lake Tyers cemetery.

Alf Bamblett, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commissioner for Victoria, spoke in tribute along with other relatives at the Thornbury service.

Momma Morgan is survived by eight of her 11 children and a multi-generational "big mob" of relatives in the Koori community. — Garry Walters

From GLW issue 104