Return to Majaddin
A Kimberley Homecoming
Eddie Bear & Robert Hoskin
ISBN 978-0-85905-674-8, (New, 2017), 181 pages, A4, Illustrated, 500 grams
$40.00* + POST
Ngarinyin Elder and community leader, Eddie Bear shares his family story with Dr Robert Hoskin, researcher and retired minister of the Uniting Church. The story begins with life in the remote land of Majaddin in the West Kimberley and continues through colonialist incursions as Eddie's family took refuge at the Munja Aboriginal feeding station on the Kimberley Coast. Following Munja's demise, the family joined with other Ngarinyin families working on pastoral stations (Kimberley Downs and Napier). Eddie and his siblings grew up on these stations and would later seek work in this developing industry.
Social disruptions in the pastoral industry forced the family to move to Derby and the nearby Aboriginal community of Mowanjum. Eddie worked on Mowanjum's new lease and cattle station of Pantijan, near Munja, before continuing to work on other pastoral stations. He and his family later returned to Mowanjum where he became chairperson of their council for many years. Eddie is a recognised leader, assisting the community as they engage with the challenges of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.