Doris Moore (nee Davis) was born at Kalama Private Hospital, in Moruya in 1938. Doris’s father was Walter Davis (Wally ‘Jerry’ Davis) born in 1906 and mother, Elizabeth Jane Brierley was born in Moruya in 1911. They were married in the late 1920s at the Moruya Catholic Church. Elizabeth ‘s mother was Catherine Josephine Duren and her father was Walter Oswald Brierley. Catherine’s mother was Jane Duren (nee Piety) who died at the Brierley’s homestead, Moruya in 1947.

Doris spent her childhood living in the Garland Town area, north Moruya. Firstly on the flat near Brierley’s Homestead and later at the Brierley’s residence on the hill above Bali Hai. Doris recalls camping with her family including her grandfather Walter Oswald Brierley in the sand dunes at Broulee when the Broulee Island was separated from the mainland. Her grandfather had a fishing trawler and worked out of Moruya.

During the 1940s Doris attended the one teacher Newstead School, then located on the south side of the Moruya River. Doris recalls rowing to School from Garland Town to Preddy’s Wharf or the Manning’s Wharf in the Anchorage. Doris went to Newstead School with the Parsons and Mongta families and her brothers Roy, Ted, Bob and sisters Agnes andCatherine. Her brother Jim and sister Jean also attended Newstead School, but beforeDoris’s time. At 8 years of age, Doris undertook her Holy Communion and began attending the Convent School, near the Moruya Police Station.

In 1953, aged 15 Doris began to work at the Beashel’s dairy farm in Bergalia, whilst Agnes, Doris’s sister worked on the adjoining farm also owned by the Beashel family. Doris worked for the Beashel family for over two years, cooking, cleaning and general farmhand work. She was paid 3 pounds per week and loved to eat fresh cream, rhubarb and vegetables. In 1954, aged 16, Doris’s family moved to Mantle Hill, Vulcan Street Moruya. When she was (almost) 18 Doris began working at Moruya’s Adelaide Hotel.

Doris married in 1962, had six children and continues to reside in Moruya.

Excerpt from Stories About the Eurobodalla by Aboriginal People, 2006. Story contributed by Martin Ind from Moruya High School.