Catholic Diocese of Broome

Aunty Vera Dann - the passing of an inspirational Kimberley identity
By Br Shane Wood
Born: 7 December 1923
Entered Eternal Life: 16 November 2003

When Vera Dann died after a brief illness in November last year, the Kimberley Catholic community and the broader society lost a well-loved and respected leader. Her dynamic and fearless work on behalf of her people and the community in general brought recognition, awards and commendations from many quarters. It also meant that a large congregation gathered in the Cathedral church of Broome for her funeral and for the burial in the Broome General Cemetery.

Vera was born as one of a family of ten on 7th December, 1923 in Beagle Bay and was proud of her Nyulnyul heritage. She was always quick to point out that the nuns were very kind to her and to her family. Her respect for the Church was strong as was her devotion to the Sunday Mass.

In the 1940's/1950's, Vera went out to Balgo for five years to work as a lay missionary, helping Fr Alphonse, and teaching the girls sewing, cleaning and preparing them for Baptism. After her return to Broome, Vera found herself working as a cook at the 'Conti', now the Mercure, for six years and at the Hospital. Despite her initial intention to fill in till they found a replacement, her job at the Hospital lasted for nine years! Then she spent some time at La Grange, again assisting the priest.

Vera was responsible for starting up children's liturgy in the parish and for cleaning the church after work on a Saturday. She was also part of the foundation group for the Bishop Raible Co-op when it began selling cheap food for people and Christmas hampers for the pensioners. She was also a keen supporter of the Broome Campus of the University of Notre Dame Australia and a member of the Broome Advisory Board for the University.

Vera's work with the Modern Dreamtime Dancers in Broome is well known. Modern Dreamtime Dancers was started as a youth initiative in 1993 to get the young people of Broome involved in something that would be a worthwhile activity that would also build self-esteem and pride in culture. Veronica McKeon and her sister, Cecilia Dann, worked to make this dream a reality. Since that time, the group has won several awards and performed throughout the Kimberley region, Darwin, Sydney, Perth, Townsville and New Zealand. They also accepted an invitation to the 2nd International Children's Dance Festival in Seoul.

So it was that Vera Dann managed to touch the lives of so many people, old and young, throughout the Kimberley and beyond. She was at home in the company of children, adults, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, politicians, priests and police. She was no respector of position when it came to putting forward a suggestion, making a request or insisting that the right thing had not been done - all in what she believed were the best interests of her people.

Vera Dann's death is a sad loss for so many in the Kimberley. However, her life and work will continue to inspire many who wish to follow her example of community service and care for others.

Sister Michael Kelly s.g.s.
By Christopher Saunders
Born: 17 Jaunuary 1922
Entered Eternal Life: 6 February 2004

Sister Michael Kelly will long be remembered in Broome for her determined efforts to assist children in need. To this end she founded Catherine House, a refuge for numerous children from all over the Kimberley. To a generation of such children she fulfilled a multitude of roles as carer, provider, protector and friend. For so many of these she was 'Mum'.

Sheila Kelly was the fourth of five children born to Catherine and John Kelly of Bayswater, a suburb of Perth. She had a great love for her family and along with the others she found great enjoyment in her youth in sports, particularly swimming, tennis and basketball.

After her happy school years spent at Maylands Primary and Mercedes in Victoria Square, Sheila worked for the Vacuum Oil Company as a secretary before entering the Novitiate of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Abbotsford , Victoria, in 1946. There she was Professed on 26th October 1948 and given the name Sister Michael.

For the next twenty-two years Sr. Michael's apostolate was the welfare and education of the girls in residence at Leederville W.A., a task she relished, imbued as she was with the spiritual zeal of the Good Shepherd. She trained as a Pitman typewriting teacher, completed a Child Welfare Certificate and excelled at dressmaking, a skill she enthusiastically handed on to her charges. She also shared her love of sport with the girls, organizing various sporting activities as well as training the marching girls for whom she made the uniforms. True to her beliefs she undertook religious instruction, prepared girls for the Sacraments and assisted many of them who had strayed to return to the Sacraments.

In 1972 Sr. Michael arrived in Broome with Phyllis Brooker, an auxiliary helper she had come to know well in Leederville. Phyllis was a good friend and companion to Sister Michael whose assistance was to prove indispensable to the on-going work among the Kimberley children in need. At first they lived in a tiny bungalow near the St. John of God convent. Phyllis remembers well being "housed on an overcrowded verandah with very little privacy and children camped in swags all over the place".

A few years later Catherine House was built. The new facility housed children who might otherwise have been sent to Perth during the period that they were in the care of the State. Sister Michael and her staff made it their business to keep active links between the children and their families, no matter how far away they were from Broome. For such important considerations she is remembered fondly by those who came to her for care and nurturing.

In her particular way Sr. Michael developed interesting links with elements of the Broome community. She was able to elicit the generous help of a variety of people and inspire them with enthusiasm for her chosen work. Part of that expansive enthusiasm spilled over into the area of publishing. She researched and wrote three books: Proud Heritage (on the local descendants of John Septimus Roe), Long Road Back (the story of the Barker clan), and Robert Button (Pastoralist, Explorer and Prospector - of Ruby Plains/Halls Creek fame).

Sr.Michael returned to Perth in 2002 for a visit. However, she decided to remain at Leederville, aged eighty. Pain from a previous car accident in Broome began to take its toll on her health and finally she was admitted to St. John of God Hospital in Subiaco.

Sr. Naomi McClements, the present Area Leader (WA) of the Good Shepherd Sisters remembers Sister Michael as a strong character. "She was very independent, resolute and determined; a woman of faith, in many ways ahead of her time, who would leave no stone unturned to achieve something she felt needed to be achieved or done. She was also very caring, loving and compassionate - a true mother to so many young girls". May she rest in peace.