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The Collective Nyungar Heritage of an "Orphan Letter"

Abstract:In the State Records Office of Western Australia (SROWA) is a 30-page file which includes a petition letter that was scripted on behalf of two Nyungar men, Tommy Dower and Johnny Carroll, in November 1886. The petition was supported by the signatures of 47 settlers of the Swan River Colony. In the archive today, the petition is considered to be an "orphan letter," with no family to connect it to. This article explores a methodology still in development for re-reading and re-contextualising Nyungar letters when a letter cannot be connected to a Nyungar descendant. By focusing on contemporary Nyungar heritage, working closely with archivists at SROWA, and guided by a Nyungar Elder, I unpack this petition letter and the histories of the petitioners through a collective framework established by the ARC Linkage Project Ancestors Words: Nyungar writing in WA Archives, 1860–1960.