THE Moree community was deeply saddened by the loss of the oldest Aboriginal male and soldier who served in WWII, William Edward Briggs-Graham, who passed away at Fairview Retirement Village on November 1.
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William ‘Uncle Bill’ joined the Australian Army on March 18, 1942, locally at east Moree and the place of enlistment was Paddington.
Private William Edward Briggs’ service number was NX 92848 and date of discharge was September 17, 1946.
On enlistment his next of kin named was wife Joyce Frances nee Dillon whom he married in 1941.
Uncle Bill became a father to William John, Joyce’s first child born in 1938 from a previous union three years earlier.
Uncle Bill shared the same birth day and month as his brother before him, Norman Frederick Briggs known as Kelly Graham on May 15, 1918. Uncle Bill was born two years later in 1920.
William was born into a family of four boys to James Thomas Graham from Terry Hie Hie and Grace Beatrice Briggs who came from Bora Crossing Blacks Camp near Manilla.
Order of birth are James Thomas Jnr, Norman Frederick, William Edward, Leslie Noel and Charles who died during infancy in 1925.
James Thomas “Jimmy” was his father who, after moving from the “Top Camp”, was the first Aboriginal to purchase 15 acres of land freehold at Yarraman in 1932. There, he became a market gardener, pumping water from the Gwydir River and using ash as an insecticide.
From the late 1930s onward “Jimmy” sold his truck of home grown fruit and vegetables while Grace sold her pies from a kerosene oven to the Aboriginal residents in “Soapy Row” and camps known as Top Camp and Middle Camp.
“Jimmy” was denied entry to the Moree Aboriginal Reserve Station to sell his produce by the reserve manager.
Grace, along with her boys travelled by the steam train the North West Mail to Newcastle to purchase melon, bean, pumpkin, corn, spinach and tomato seeds bringing the haul back in brown suitcases.
Uncle Bill and his brothers from an early age knew what hard work was from a strict father when helping out at home.
His parents moved to Newcastle because of poor health and with their deaths in the 1960s a year apart, both are together in the same grave at Sandgate Cemetery.
All four sons married in their birth name of their mother Briggs and two later took the name of their father, Graham.
William accepted a redundancy from the railway where he worked amongst gangs on the maintenance of bridges for 37 years. He was presented with a wrist watch for his long service that he still possessed to his death.
He was awarded “Moree Aboriginal NAIDOC Male Elder of the Year” in 2003 by Home and Community Care, Thulgan-Gur.
William Edward-Briggs’ second union was with Muriel May Cutmore nee Tighe and in this union there was no issue.
The couple lived in a home on railway land in Morton Street and moved because of the talk of a coming bypass to settle in Maude Street.
Long after May’s death in 1999, Uncle Bill was admitted to Fairview Hostel in 2010 with Alzheimer’s disease.
A keen bowler for years accompanied by his brother Kelly and love of football saw them at many football games, especially the early Aboriginal teams the Shamrocks and later the Boomerangs.
William Edward Briggs-Graham is survived by his only child Frances Grace and her family in Tamworth.
His youngest brother, Leslie Noel - known as “Darkie” - currently still resides at Yarraman.
William Edward is remembered as a kind, quiet Aboriginal gentleman, softly spoken, well-mannered and dignified. He very seldom used a swear word or the word no.
The age old traditional custom in the Aboriginal community when reaching maturity still applies to the elderly being referred to as Uncle or Aunt and nicknames used without permission of either is considered disrespectful and is frowned upon.
Upon Uncle Bill’s death there is another link in the chain to the past, gone forever.
