Nellie’s story – Queen Nellie Hamilton was a Ngunnawal Elder, truth teller and community leader who was born around 1830 at Ginninderra and spent most of her life in the Queanbeyan-Braidwood area. SHe died in 1897 at the Queanbeyan Hospital and is buried outside the Riverside Cemetery. It is hoped that a statue befitting her extraordinary life will help more people hear about her and her story.
The final life size sculpture of Queen Nellie Hamilton is envisioned to be installed within Queanbeyan and will highlight Queanbeyan and the Limestone Plains as Aboriginal places with a rich and ancient history. In the marquette Queen Nellie wears a woollen rug. She is bare footed with her son Eddie and dog Jerrabung by her side.
There are several versions of the following quote of Nellie’s which captures the essence of a Queen.
I no tink much of your law. You come here and take my land, kill my possum, my kangaroo. Leave me starve. Only gib me rotten blanket. Me take calf or sheep, you been shoot me, or put me in jail. You bring your bad sickness ‘mong us.
As recorded in Canberra: Its History and Legends by John Gale, John. Published by A.M. Fallick and Sons. Queanbeyan, 1927.