Australian Aboriginal leader, dormitory matron, and nurse (1836–1925)
Louisa Briggs
Briggs and grandson William in 1877
Born
Louisa Esmai Strugnell
(1818-11-14)14 November 1818 or 1836 (1836)
Port Phillip Bay, New Holland (Australia) or Preservation Island, Tasmania, Australia
Died
6 or 8 September 1925
Cumeroogunga, New South Wales, Australia
Other names
Louisa Strugnell
Occupation(s)
Prospector, farm worker, midwife, nurse, dormitory matron, human rights activist
Years active
1853–1903
Children
9
Relatives
Ellen Atkinson (granddaughter) Carolyn Briggs (great-granddaughter)
Louisa Briggs (née Strugnell; 14 November 1818 or 1836 – 6 or 8 September 1925) was an Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife and nurse. She is officially recognised by the Victorian Government and the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council as one of five apical ancestors from whom Boonwurrung descent is established.
Variations exist in the origin accounts of Louisa. Her own account was that she was the daughter of a woman from the area around Port Phillip Bay named Mary and an English sealer, John Strugnell. In an interview, she said that her mother was biracial and her grandmother Marjorie (Margery) was a full-blooded Indigenous woman from the area of Melbourne. Louisa may have been born in Victoria, but other accounts indicate it was likely that she was born on Preservation Island in Tasmania. She and her husband John Briggs had nine children. They took part in the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s and between prospecting, lived on the privately owned Eurambeen Station, where they did farm labour and worked as shepherds. When the gold boom economy slowed, they were unable to find work and in 1871, moved to Coranderrk Aboriginal Station, a reserve which the government had created for the resettlement of the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung people.
At Coranderrk, Louisa worked as a nurse and midwife. She replaced a European staff member as a paid dormitory matron in 1876. Louisa participated in an inquiry that year over mismanagement of the station. After she and her minor children were evicted from Coranderrk in 1878, they moved to the Ebenezer Aboriginal Station, where she was hired as a nurse and laundress. She protested the treatment of Aboriginal people on the government reserves, repeatedly sending letters about the lack of rations and low wages. Her activism resulted in officials' decisions to keep her family separated between the two stations until 1882, but also eventually caused rations and wages at both reserves to be equalised. When she and her children were allowed to return to Coranderrk, Louisa was reinstated as dormitory matron. Because administrators wanted to sell the land for the stations, they began to enforce a policy of assimilation for biracial people. Louisa's son Jack relocated to the Maloga Mission and she joined him there 1885. When Jack's wife died and Louisa took over the care of his children, she sought to return to Coranderrk but her request was denied.
In 1889, Louisa and the family moved to the Cummeragunja Reserve, but she continued petitioning to return to Coranderrk without success. The policy of excluding biracial people from the government stations was extended to Cummeragunja in 1895, and the family was forced to remove to a makeshift camp near Barmah. Although a request for rations was denied to her in 1903, she was at some point allowed to return to Cummeragunja, where she was residing in 1923. She died and was buried there in 1925. She was honoured with a bronze plaque in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden in Melbourne and at Site 31 on the Bayside Coastal Indigenous Trail in Victoria. Two theatrical productions have included interpretations of her life.
LouisaBriggs (née Strugnell; 14 November 1818 or 1836 – 6 or 8 September 1925) was an Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife...
Wurrung representative in the City of Port Phillip. Briggs is the great-granddaughter of LouisaBriggs, who as a child was abducted by seal hunters before...
political advocacy LouisaBriggs (1818 or 1836- 1925), Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife and nurse Louisa Burns (c.1869–1958)...
[citation needed] According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, LouisaBriggs was probably the daughter of Doog-by-er-um-boroke, a Woiorung woman...
protesting their lack of rights and the threatened closure of the reserve. LouisaBriggs (1836–1925), a Bunurong woman, lived with her family, including nine...
Strugnell as a surname may refer to: LouisaBriggs (née Strugnell) (1818 or 1836- 1925), Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife...
Hötzendorf, Austrian field marshal (b. 1852) September 6 or September 8– LouisaBriggs, Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife and...
and surveyor (born in the United Kingdom) (b. 1846) 6 or 8 September– LouisaBriggs, Aboriginal Australian rights activist, dormitory matron, midwife and...
2000. Cameron, Louisa Pringle, The Private Gardens of Charleston, Wyrick & Company, April 1992. ISBN 0-941711-14-5. "Loutrel Briggs, Architect, Dies"...
John Briggs West (August 6, 1852 – March 14, 1922) was an American publisher who founded West Publishing. John Briggs West was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts...
she received only about $35 from the Boston publisher, George Briggs. Alcott, Louisa May. Morning Glories and Queen Aster. Little, Brown. Matteson (2007)...
"Margaret", was an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman who had children with George Briggs, an English convict. She worked as a sealer and kangaroo hunter. Woretemoeteryenner...
at the time. She was born into a well-to-do family; her mother was Lady Louisa Pollard. Charley has two sisters, Margaret "Peggy" Pollard and Cecelia "Sissy"...
in London, where he met Louisa Catherine Johnson, the second daughter of American merchant Joshua Johnson. In April 1796, Louisa accepted Adams's proposal...
retain it on-screen. Writer Ian Briggs based Dr Judson on Alan Turing. In an interview for the DVD release of this story, Briggs said that since at that time...
have received ongoing attention from the media, both in China and abroad. Louisa Lim of NPR called him an "unlikely guardian angel." A German TV program...
Crown: 1817-1819 (1 ed.). London and Tiptree, Colchester, Essex: Blond & Briggs Ltd. ISBN 978-0-8563-4068-0. Fraser, Flora (2006). Princesses: The Six Daughters...
Upham Lincoln Harder (b. 1955) m. James Briggs Alexander Briggs George Briggs Holly Briggs Katherine Briggs Calista Harder (b. 1957) m. Jan Hollyer Elsa...
on the SS Varuna and Teddy's younger sister Danny Johnson as Father Toby Briggs, a close friend of Lawrence and Katherine's and a powerful behind-the-scenes...
23 September 2004 (2004-09-23) 9.31 Louisa buys two tickets to the Portwenn Players Dance and invites Martin. He doesn't want to go, so Louisa offers the ticket to PC...
(1927) Sources for the History of Greek Athletics (1955) Briggs, Ward W. Jr. "ROBINSON, Rachel Louisa Sargent". Database of Classical Scholars. Retrieved December...
Ventimiglia, David Costabile, Christopher Wallace Jr., Valence Thomas, Jasper Briggs Paul Blart: Mall Cop Columbia Pictures / Relativity Media / Happy Madison...
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