Interview with Wilgah O'Neill (1995)

State Library of Western Australia

From

1995

To

1995

Website

http://catalogue.slwa.wa.gov.au/record=b2086762~S7#.UTPXdDd5f8k

Reference No

OH3163

Legal Status

State Library of Western Australia Call Number

[From the State Library of Western Australia]

Mrs O'Neill was born in Boulder, and she describes her childhood in Bunbury, where the family settled, owing to her ill health as a baby. She worked in Geraldton, at the Club Hotel in the late thirties. She comments that society has changed for the worse since then, and people don't care about each other, the way they used to. After holding down various jobs, she went to Moore River in 1942, as a housekeeper. She describes her tasks and everyday life at the mission. She recalls journalists investigating the situation at Moore River, and a bit of a cover-up occurring. She got on well with the staff and children there.