{{Short description|(1842–1916) Aboriginal shellworker}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} thumb|Emma Timbery in 1895. '''Emma Timbery''' ({{circa}} 1842 - 26 November 1916) was an Aboriginal Australian shellworker and matriarch. She was also known as the "Queen of the Illawarra", "Queen of La Perouse" or "Granny Timbery." Her shellwork became part of a family tradition that continues to the present day. Timbery was also a Christian convert and active in the Christian Endeavor Society in La Perouse. Timbery also acted as a cultural informant about her language, Dharawal.
== Biography == Timbery was born on the Georges River<ref name="Obit"/> at Liverpool, New South Wales.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Goodall|first1=Heather|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNByb2UuGZ8C&q=%22Emma+Timbery%22&pg=PA106|title=Rivers and Resilience: Aboriginal People on Sydney's Georges River|last2=Cadzow|first2=Allison|publisher=UNSW Press|year=2009|isbn=9781921410741|location=Sydney|pages=106|language=en|author-link=Heather Goodall}}</ref> She spoke Dharawal and was originally known by her stepfather's last name, Lond or Lownds, who was a Dharug man and language informant. <ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Nugent|first=Maria|title=Timbery, Emma (1842–1916)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/timbery-emma-13218|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2019-08-04}}</ref> At the age of ten, she was taken to live with Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hill in Surry Hills, New South Wales.<ref name="Obit"/> There, she began attending Sunday School regularly.<ref name="Obit"/> She married George Timbery, an Aboriginal fisherman, in 1864 in Botany Bay.<ref name=":0" /> She and George had 11 children together.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/4841361/aboriginal-stories-come-to-life-in-historical-book/|title=Aboriginal Stories Come to Life in Historical Book|last=Warden|first=Hayley|date=2017-08-08|website=South Coast Register|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808082624/https://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/4841361/aboriginal-stories-come-to-life-in-historical-book/?cs=202|archive-date=8 August 2017|access-date=2019-08-04}}</ref> The couple had moved to La Perouse by 1882 where Timbery was able to make extra money creating shell baskets.<ref name=":0" /> Timbery's shellwork was displayed on a regular basis and sold annually in Sydney at the Royal Easter Show.<ref name=":0" /> Timbery's work is part of the "early phase" of La Perouse shellwork.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/emma-timbery/biography/|title=Emma Timbery|last=Nugent|first=Maria|date=2008|website=Design & Art Australia Online|access-date=4 August 2019}}</ref> In 1910, her shellwork was displayed in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/i-dont-want-it-to-die-out-esme-timbery-on-the-art-of-shell-work-20180115-h0icb4.html|title=The shell seeker: Esme Timbery's journey from Paddy's Markets to the Biennale|last=Kembrey|first=Melanie|date=2018-01-16|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}}</ref>
Timbery was revered in the community, known as "Queen of La Perouse" or "Granny Timbery."<ref name="Obit"/><ref name=":1" /> Timbery was also a skilled fisher,<ref name="Obit"/> and on at least two occasions, in 1876<ref name="Boat">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135869338 |title=The "Queen Emma." |newspaper=Illawarra Mercury |volume=XXI |issue=C |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 September 1876 |accessdate=6 August 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and in the early 1900s,<ref name="Obit"/> a boat was provided for the community to enable them to catch their own fish.<ref name="Obit"/> The boat provided in 1876 was named the "Queen Emma", in honour of Timbery.<ref name="Boat"/>
Timbery was also an informant on her own culture, working with the anthropologist R.H. Mathews, who was studying the Dharawal language and culture.<ref name=":1" /> Maria Nugent writes that Timbery's "information has been essential for the preservation and revival of the Dharawal language."<ref name=":1" /> Timbery, who had become a Christian convert in the early 1890s, was also involved with Christian missionaries at the La Perouse Aboriginal settlement and also with the Christian Endeavor Society.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5061399|title=La Perouse Mission Church|last=|first=|date=|website=NSW Environment & Heritage|access-date=2019-08-05}}</ref> Timbery was elected as vice president of the Christian Endeavor Society branch in La Perouse.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzGbDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Emma+Timbery%22&pg=PA110|title=White Women, Aboriginal Missions and Australian Settler Governments: Maternal Contradictions|last1=Cruickshank|first1=Joanna|last2=Grimshaw|first2=Patricia|publisher=Brill|year=2019|isbn=9789004397019|location=Leiden|pages=110|language=en}}</ref> Timbery was close to missionary, Retta Dixon and the two women worked together.<ref name=":2" /> It was believed by the community that Queen Victoria had left lands to Timbery, but the paperwork had been destroyed in a fire.<ref name=":3" />
Timbery died in La Perouse on 26 November 1916<ref name="Obit">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121344651 |title=QUEEN EMMA DEAD |newspaper=Sunday Times |issue=1611 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 December 1916 |accessdate=6 August 2019 |page=26 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and was buried in Botany Cemetery.<ref name=":3" /> She left behind a long family legacy of arts with her grandson, Joseph Timbery, noted as a boomerang maker and women in her family continuing to do shellwork.<ref name=":3" /> Her great-granddaughter, Esme Russell, won awards for her shellwork.<ref name=":1" />
==See also== * List of Indigenous Australian historical figures
== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags, these references will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Timbery, Emma}} <!--- Categories ---> Category:1842 births Category:1916 deaths Category:Indigenous Australian artists Category:Artists from New South Wales Category:19th-century Australian women artists Category:19th-century Australian artists Category:20th-century Australian women artists Category:20th-century Australian artists Category:Burials at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Category:Shell artists Category:Australian Christians Category:Converts to Christianity from paganism