QUERY
Anna (Annie) (Queenie) M CAIN, born 1 Dec 1878 (I01206)
Birth 1879 -- Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia
NSW Birth 12018/1879 CAIN, ANNIE GEORGE WILLIAM & MARY COONABARABRAN
Australia Births and Baptisms
Name Anna Cain
Gender Female
Christening Date 25 May 1879
Christening Place St. Joseph, Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia
Birth Date 01 Dec 1878
Birthplace Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia
Father's Name George Cain
Mother's Name Maria Griffin
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NSW Death 32044/1965 ROBINSON, ANNIE MARIA GEORGE WILLIAM & MARY JANE COONABARABRAN
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HERITAGE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS PTY, LTD.
..... While such stories denied the identity of the children born to white fathers and black mothers, they were also fundamentally untrue. Aborigines who we would describe as full-blood continued to be born in the area during the late 1800s – such as Queenie Robinson born at Oakley Creek, Coolah in 1876
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The Canberra Times (ACT : Thursday 6 May 1943)
ABORIGINAL MOTHER OF 28 .
SYDNEY, Wednesday.-An Aboriginal woman, known as Queen of the Burra Bee tribe, of the aboriginal station at Coonabarabran, is the mother of 28 children, five of whom are in the Army. This was stated to-day by Mr. Renshaw (Lab.) when urging that aborigines should be allowed to vote in the selection of their own welfare board.
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Dances and community events were held in all kinds of venues, including halls, shearing sheds and in houses. Queenie Robinson of Burrabeedee had a house with:
"a big fireplace as wide as the kitchen. It was a dance hall, it was the kitchen, it was where every wedding was held. They used to snig a log in with a draught horse to put on the fire and she’d have the coals and a camp oven. It was lovely, lovely days they were."
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At Burrabeedee the school was closed down in 1954 and children were required to travel into Coonabarabran for their education. Leading figures in the mission community such as Queenie Robinson moved into town so they could be eligible for an aged pension because. ‘... at every turn the people were manipulated by government policy.’
As the people moved away the Burrabeedee Mission was closed down and buildings and stock sold off by the government. The school building and houses still exist on properties around Coonabarabran.
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Former residents of Burrabeedee recall sporting events arranged by Queenie Robinson to raise money for the hospital.