Harriett Walker

Harriett Walker was born at Wallaga Lake in 1935 and has lived in the Wallaga Lake community her entire life. Her mother was Joyce Carter and father Arthur Thomas. Joyce Carter’s father was Charlie Carter and Arthur Thomas’s father was William Thomas. Of her grandparents, Harriett recalls them ‘..moving along the coast, never stopping in one place much…’.

With her sisters Pam Flanders and Valerie Andy, Harriett ventured around the Wallaga Lake area as a child. She recalls overnight trips across Wallaga Lake and up Dignams Creek. The family collected garlic from ‘Garlic’ [Snake] Island and used it to flavour steamed fish caught in Dignams Creek. During the 1940s, Harriett walked from Wallaga Lake to Ulladulla with her parents. The journey took longer than one month and is described in section 2 above. The family often walked between Wallaga Lake and Mystery Bay, camping at Poole’s Point with little swags in wind breaks made from shrubs and trees.

Harriet worked picking in Bodalla and Coopers Island with her parents as well as housecleaning at ‘Whiffens’, Jeff Bates’ holiday house on Bridge Point, Akolele. Harriett continues to live at Wallaga Lake with her sisters and extended family.

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