Dolly Dalrymple

Dolly Dalrymple was born at the Furneaux Islands to George Briggs from England and Woretemoeteyenner, daughter of the chief Mannarlargenna from Van Diemen's Land. Her mother was kidnapped and held as a sex slave by her father, who then sold her. Dolly Dalrymple became the foster child of the surgeon Jacob Mountgarrett (1773-1828), of Port Dalrymple, who had her baptised and gave her the name Dalrymple, and educated her in Western domestic chores. From 1825, she lived with the convict Thomas Johnson (1801-1867), with whom she had several children and married six years later. In 1831, she successfully defended her hut and children against an attack by Aboriginals while Johnson was away, and was awarded by the government with land by Perth, where she moved with Johnson and her children. Thomas Johnson eventually became rich and founded the mansion Sherwood Hall near Mersey, and Dolly Dalrymple often managed his estates during his absence, and was also given government help to have her mother brought to her. Her life story was very uncommon for an Aboriginal woman in the early nineteenth century.