Bessie Flower

Flower was born to John and Mary Flower some time near 1851. Her family were Nyungar aboriginal Australians and her parents worked for Henry and Anne Camfield. Henry was the government's representative and Anne started a school for native children which the Flower children attended. Bessie became a Christian and an outstanding pupil.

Flower was described as an "intelligent and bright child". She spoke French, played the harmonium, chess, and also excelled at the piano and singing. In 1864 she was sent to a Church of England 'model school' to further her studies. Upon returning to Annesfield in 1866, she worked alongside Anne Camfield as a teacher's assistant. Flower also worked as an organist at the local Anglican Church.

I867 Bessie was given an offer which it appeared offered her a chance to improve her teaching. She was offered a position at the mission in Gippsland in Victoria, but the real plan seemed to have been for her to become a wife to on of Friedrich Hagenauer's favourite converts. Bessie's parents were both aboriginals whereas Hagenauer's convert, her husband designate, Adolph Donald Cameron, was a half caste. They married when Bessie was 17 and they had eight children. Both Adolph and Bessie left Hagenauer's employment but his influence continued.

According to Australian authorities, people who were not full-blooded aboriginals were to be separated from aboriginals. This meant that Bessie should be separated from her family. She found, therefore, that the authorities were trying to separate her from her children. The secretary of the board in charge of that decision, as it happened, was Friedrich Hagenauer himself.

In 1871 a Select Committee reported on the Aboriginal Natives. They summarised Anne Camfield's evidence saying "One girl, sent to Sydney, played for some time the harmonium in St. Philip’s Church, and gained her living by teaching...".