Jessie Coyne’s Story

“As soon as they got to the institutions they changed their names and after a while they didn’t know where they’d come from.” Maureen Dodd, 2011

Jessie Coyne’s story is one of many experienced by Aboriginal children who became part of what is now known as the Stolen Generations. Under government policies of the time, Aboriginal children were removed from their families and communities, often without consent, and placed in missions, institutions or foster homes. Many were prevented from speaking their language, practising their culture or maintaining contact with their families.

Jessie was a Bayungu woman, born at Wandagee Station in January 1917 to Charlie and Jubilee Fennell.

When Jessie was nine years old, police arrived and removed her from her family without her parents’ knowledge. She was taken hundreds of kilometres from her Country to the Moore River Native Settlement, where she was given a new name—Jessie Wandagee.

Jessie remained at Moore River for nine years.

Throughout that time, her father never stopped trying to bring her home. Charlie Fennell wrote repeatedly to the Chief Protector of Aborigines, asking for his daughter to be returned. Those letters were never passed on to Jessie. Instead, she was told that her parents did not want her. Believing she had been abandoned, Jessie saw her parents only once more during their lives.

Returning Home

“I took Mum back to meet our family in Carnarvon in 1987. She hadn’t seen them for over fifty years. We went to the village to see Aunt Daisy. They looked at each other and embraced without any introductions. They recognised each other after being apart for so long and without a word being spoken.”
Harley Coyne, 2011

While living at Moore River, Jessie met Sydney Coyne. After Jessie left the settlement to work as a domestic worker in the Pilbara, Sydney searched for her, and they married in 1937.

Together they shared 61 years of marriage and raised six children.

For most of their lives Jessie and Sydney lived in Albany, where Jessie became a respected member of the local Noongar community. Yet despite building a loving family and a new life, Jessie never stopped longing for the family and Country she had lost as a child.

In 1987, more than fifty years after she had last seen them, Jessie returned to Carnarvon. She was reunited with her sisters—Dolly, Daisy and Bessie—and reconnected with the family from whom she had been separated for so much of her life. She returned many times in the years that followed, rebuilding relationships that government policies had once tried to erase.

Jessie passed away in 2000, aged 83. Although she found her family again, no reunion could restore the childhood, memories and years that had been taken from her.

Her story stands as a reminder of the profound and lasting impacts of the Stolen Generations on Aboriginal families and communities across Australia.

Collection Items

Jessie Coyne’s 50th Wedding Anniversary

Jessie was proud to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary surrounded by family, including a visit from her sister Dolly Butler after decades of separation.

Photograph courtesy of the Coyne Family Collection.

Charlie Fennell at Wandagee Station

Jessie’s father, Charlie Fennell, worked on Wandagee and other stations throughout the Gascoyne. He spent many years trying to have his daughter returned home.

Photograph courtesy of the Coyne Family Collection.

Letter from Charlie Fennell to the Chief Protector of Aborigines (28 August 1935)

Charlie Fennell wrote numerous letters asking for Jessie to be returned to her family. Jessie never received these letters and did not know that her parents had fought to bring her home.

Photograph courtesy of the Coyne Family Collection.