
Two people removed from their families as children to enter into servitude, Margaret Tucker and Bill Reid, speak of their experience growing up. Historical footage shows children placed in missions. Summary by Romaine Moreton.
Lousy Little Sixpence has an historical place in Indigenous film as an educational piece that preserves the life stories of many Indigenous people – now elders – who were procured by the missions to enter the workforce and become servants to wealthy white families.
The issue of stolen wages is ongoing – the withheld wages earned by those indentured Indigenous workers, who contributed to the Australian economy without any financial reward, remains unaddressed to this day. So this is an important film that offers a background to the present struggle for the very generations depicted in this film to receive the wages that were supposedly held in trust for them. In December 2006, a Senate Committee inquiry recommended that 'Indigenous claimants are fully compensated for monies withheld from them’. It further noted, 'The committee is concerned that establishing a national inquiry or a Royal Commission into stolen wages will not directly resolve the stolen wages issue and will only delay actions taken by state and territory governments to address these issues. The advanced age and ill-health of many potential claimants means that the expeditious resolution of claims must be a priority. It is time to resolve this issue’.
It is quite incredible to listen to the testimonies of Indigenous elders born in the early 1900s – their reflections and personal accounts of what it meant to be administered by the Aborigines Protection Board, removed from their families and sent to work in cities. The work of Jack Patten is documented in this film, and his participation in the establishment of the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association (APA), which was invested in dismantling the Aborigines Protection Board, as well as fighting for and attaining citizen’s rights for all Indigenous peoples.
A documentary using historical footage and interviews with Indigenous people who belonged to the generation that were forced into unpaid servitude by the Australian government. The title refers to the amount of pocket money the indentured workers were supposed to be given – but never received – while their wages were managed by their 'employers’, on behalf of the Aborigines Protection Board.
Notes by Romaine Moreton
This clip shows Margaret Tucker and Bill Reid recalling their lives growing up on Aboriginal reserves in New South Wales. Tucker describes the Cumeroogunga community as ‘one big family’ and Reid says that the Pilliga Reserve was self-sufficient, with plenty of food to eat and regular contact with a neighbouring mission. Their recollections are intercut with black-and-white historical footage and photographs depicting reserve life, including Elders making implements such as boomerangs and baskets, and the Pilliga Reserve band making music.
Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia
This clip starts approximately 3 minutes into the documentary.
Margaret Tucker is being interviewed.
Margaret Tucker I was born at (inaudible) about 74 years ago on the Murrumbidgee. My mother taught us a lot and she was of the Murray River tribe. My two sisters were born on the Murray River and two of us were born on the Murrumbidgee. We used to love to get with the old people — out on a summer night especially and they’d sing in our language and they would teach us to do the corroboree. Our people were like one big family.
Bill Reid, from Pilliga Reserve, is being interviewed outside.
Bill Reid Yes, we had quite a good social life. We used to be the clay-pan dancers and one event that was especially looked forward to was the — the visit of the Burrabadee people, that was the Mission at Coonabarabran. They used to come down each year and supply half the concert. There was a violin player from Coonabarabran and we had our violin player and we’d all join in and form a sort of band. We had a pretty, a pretty good life there. There was plenty to eat. We were not dependent on the government for food or anything. We were totally independent of that type of help.
We see historical footage of people posing for the camera, doing craftwork, and sweeping.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.