Schreiber, Lorna

Schreiber was born at Yarrabah Mission, Queensland. She was taken from her parents at the age of 10 and raised in a mission school until she was 16 when her tribe successfully demanded that the Catholic church return their children.

She and her husband fostered Aboriginal children from the outback who were attending school in Cairns. In 1977 the Gungganyji people successfully petitioned the Bishop of North Queensland to have her anointed Queen of Yarrabah. She was one of the last native speakers of the tribal language and was a custodian of much tribal knowledge of sacred places and medicine, which she helped record for posterity.

References

The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture, David Horton, general editor. (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 1994)