First steps on country: Penny Derksen’s reunion story
My name is Penny Derksen, I have been married for 34yrs and I have a son and daughter and 2 gorgeous granddaughters. I work for Education Queensland, and live in Emerald, Central Queensland.
Above: Penny with Dr John Heath at Buggs Creek, which was named after Penny and John’s ancestor James Bugg.
I grew up in a small town, Miles, west of Brisbane. I was adopted as a baby; I have a sister and 2 brothers. I grew up knowing I was adopted, there was no big surprise or specific day I was told, there was never a big deal made of it.
This may be hard to believe but I never knew I was Aboriginal, when I was I growing up I cannot recall a single time I was referred to as having any specific cultural background, let alone Aboriginal. I did however know that I wanted to find my birth mother, it was sheer curiosity of wondering who I looked like more than anything. After a long and difficult search, I found my biological mother and met her in 1992, I also met other family members that day and was shown photos of aunts from way back (who were obviously Aboriginal) but again at the time, I was just trying to piece everything together for my own little biological family. Sometime after that I started to connect the dots and the cogs started to turn towards my Indigenous heritage, and all the information that was sitting in my brain for future reference. Hence the search many years later.
I tried many avenues to search for my Aboriginal background myself, however my biological mother had very little information.
She did forward the names of a couple of family members that got me on the right track. It was still too hard to find information myself and eventually I found Link-Up (Qld) online, so I contacted them and my search began. My search took approximately 3 years, but when it was done the information collected was massive and very detailed. I went from virtually knowing nothing to having so much information I found it hard to process and I am still processing it today.
It turns out I am very lucky, Link-Up (Qld) was able to trace my Indigenous heritage back six generations to the Birpai Nation NSW. James and Charlotte Bugg on my Great Grandmothers’ side and to James Yarnold and Maria (Birpai) on my Great Grandfathers side.
Above: First stop was Grants Head Reserve near Bonny Hills where John welcomed everyone to his Country, and welcomed Penny home.
My reunion consisted of travelling with my husband as my support to Port Macquarie, NSW and surrounding areas, to Birpai Country. We met up with Dr John Heath who has spent many years researching the Bugg family and wrote his thesis on the family, he is also family which was immensely helpful as he was more than willing to take us around many important properties, towns, cemeteries, and burial sites of significance. John did a Welcome to Country ceremony at beautiful Grants Head Reserve (Bonny Hills) overlooking the ocean.
I was completely in awe of the country and overwhelmed with all the information I was given, I soaked it all in and I’m sure I will be returning at some point to further visit places we didn’t have time to visit on this trip.
Above: Penny outside the historical Stroud Court House
I returned home with a complete sense of belonging that I have never experienced before and I am still extremely curious for more knowledge of my heritage. No doubt having connected with Dr John Heath will prove to be an extraordinary help with future information. I would like to extend my appreciation to Link-Up (Qld) staff members, Alison Bell and Anne Garrett for their tireless efforts contributing to the incredibly large amount of research required for the vast amount of information involved with my family research. Thank you for being always available along the way and for the compassion and respect shown with my reunion process. A special thanks to Dr John Heath for his valuable participation and for helping to organise the itinerary for my reunion.
Published September 2021.