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    Reunion Story: Jennifer Chantrell

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My name is Jennifer Chantrell, I was born in 1954 in Adelaide South Australia. I was living in Gympie Queensland in 2018, when I contacted Link-Up (Qld) to ask for help in locating a missing family member, a sister, believed to be born in 1958. Several relatives had spoken about my mother being pregnant when we lived in Mildura NSW in the late 1950s, and I also had a handwritten letter from my older sister who confirmed that a baby girl was born to our mother and adopted out in 1958.

I knew that Link-Up (Qld) was the best place to start searching for my lost sister as they had the reputation for having access to resources that were not always available to the average person, and they also had a wealth of experience in locating and reuniting family members who had become separated from their mob through a variety of reasons. Link-Up (Qld) accepted me as client. While Link-Up (Qld) was unable, despite a very thorough investigation, to locate my missing sister, they provided me with a huge collection of family information. I was truly impressed by the effort to research my family’s background. Link-Up (Qld) also organised a family reunion which turned out to be the most amazing timing for an incredibly special event.

But first, a brief outline of my family history. My father, Robert Chantrell, was born in Sydney in 1933; he was non-Indigenous. My mother, Dulcie Newchurch, was born in 1936 in the city of Adelaide, on Kaurna Country. She was one of six children born to Timothy Jack Johnson Newchurch and Gwendolyn Newchurch, nee Sansbury. Both were born on Narungga Country at the Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission located on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. The Newchurch and Sansbury families, were, and still are, large clans. They have numerous descendants. This is a good place to insert the news that Native Title to the entire Yorke Peninsula was granted to the Narungga People in 2023.[1] Link-Up (Qld) discovered that a few of my Aboriginal ancestors were born in other places, but they came to live on Narungga land, and there they raised families with the Narungga mob.

My grandfather Timothy Newchurch is a descendent of Nellie Raminyemmermin, an historically-documented Kaurna woman.[2] My grandmother’s mother, Jessie Johnson, was an Adnyamathanha woman of the Flinders Rangers. Her story appears in the SBS episode, Who Do You Think You Are in connection with Adam Goodes (AFL player and 2014 Australian of the Year). [3] Jessie came to live at Point Pearce where she married Narungga man Edward Sansbury.

Not long after I contacted Link-Up (Qld) in 2018, I discovered through an Ancestry.com DNA test, a previously unknown maternal brother. Named after my great-grandfather Richard Newchurch, he had been adopted out as a newborn in Sydney. His birth date does not match the timing of the missing sister. We have stayed connected ever since. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, Richard was unable to join us for the Link-Up (Qld) reunion. DNA testing has brought to me a few messages from relatives who were separated from their families as children, now desperately seeking to discover information and to reconnect with their mob. I sincerely hope my experience with Link-Up (Qld) gives hope to people, no matter how old they are, or how long they have been separated, to reconnect with their mob.

My family search with Link-Up (Qld) had a special and unexpected ending. This hardworking, capable, and devoted organisation, in addition to providing a wealth of family records, also organised a family reunion. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The COVID-19 pandemic had slowed down the processing of my case as Link-Up (Qld) staff were restricted greatly, or my case would have been concluded a few years ago! But in the meantime, my granddaughter Tylissa Elisara wrote a very special children’s story. It is set in Kangaroo Island, known to Aboriginal people as Karta Pintingga. It was an unexpected bringing together of the ancestors and the younger generations. We felt called by our ancestors to bring attention to their story.

My Kaurna ancestor, Nellie Raminyemmermin, was taken to Kangaroo Island to work for the sealers who converged there in the 1820s. She became the partner of a sealer from Finland who made the island his home and they had nine children together. One of those, Elizabeth, went to live on the Yorke Peninsula, Narungga Country, where her daughter Edith married Richard Newchurch, my great-grandfather. Although Link-Up (Qld) was unable to locate my missing sister, at my request, Link-Up (Qld) organised the reunion for myself and my granddaughter Tylissa, on Karta Pintingga, Kangaroo Island.

In 2024, my granddaughter Tylissa had her first book published, Wurrtoo: the Wombat Who Fell in Love With The Sky.[4] The story begins in Karta Pintingga, travels to Narungga Country, and back to Karta Pintingga. What amazing timing and a perfect climax to my relationship with Link-Up (Qld). Wurrtoo’s story is receiving wonderful reviews and the reunion journey to Kangaroo Island solidly connected my granddaughter to my ancestral grandmother Nellie Raminyemmermin. We sincerely hope Wurrtoo brings attention to Nellie’s story and ancestral Country and her many living descendants. We hope to tell her story all over the world.

The work of Link-Up (Qld) is truly relevant, and I hope the reputation of the magnificent work they do is spread everywhere, so they can continue to reconnect people to their mob. We were immensely proud to share in the history of my ancestor Nellie Raminyemmermin with Link-Up (Qld) staff members Tahj Minniecon and Kerry Sandow who accompanied us to Karta Pintingga. They took great care of us during the reunion, we felt loved, and our culture respected. The island’s scenery was breathtaking, and we all expressed an enthusiastic desire to return to this beautiful and spiritual place.

Here is a photo of Nellie Raminyemmermin, Kaurna woman, my ancestor.

[1] Narungga Nation receive Native Title determination, cultural loss compensation, March 14, 2023, National Indigenous Times

https://nit.com.au/15-03-2023/5259/narungga-nation-receive-native-title-determination-cultural-loss-compensation

[2] Nellie Raminyemmermin: A Link To The Past

https://www.experienceadelaide.com.au/notable-locations/nellie-raminyemmerin-a-link-to-the-past/

[3] Who Do You Think You Are: Australia, Episode 6, Adam Goodes, 2014. (Both the Adam Goodes SBS episode and Australian of the Year were 2014)

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/who-do-you-think-you-are/season-6/who-do-you-think-you-are-s6-ep6/313380419793

[4] Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell In Love With The Sky, by Tylissa Elisara (2024)

https://www.hachette.com.au/tylissa-elisara-dylan-finney/wurrtoo-the-wombat-who-fell-in-love-with-the-sky

 

Published 15 October 2024.

For more reunion stories, click here to view our collection of editions of the Link-Up (Qld) magazine.

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