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Margaret Henry

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Margaret Henry Oral History Project

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Please contactSpecial Collections if you are a subject of the interview, or know a subject of the interview, and have cultural or other reservations about the interview and summary being made available on this website and would like to discuss this with us.

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Interview with John Duggan (1989) - (soundbite)

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The Margaret Henry Oral History Archive is a collection of audio tapes, transcripts, summaries and essays that were part of the Oral Histories Open Foundation Course (1986-1989). Margaret Henry was a history lecturer at the UON in the 1980s.

The oral history tapes have been digitised and made freely available to the wider global research community thanks to the generosity of The Vera Deacon Regional History Fund.

Listen to full Oral History Interview HERE

Summarynterview by Carmel Creasey in 1989 with John Duggan (1911-2007) about Mosquito Island 1916-1923.

Mosquito Island was named after an estate held there in 1844 by Rev. Charles Wilton, Chaplain of Christ Church Newcastle. Mosquito Island was often referred to as "Moscheto" and located in the Hunter River near Newcastle, is part of a delta-like series of islands, others include Ash and Dempsey Islands.

Mr Duggan was born in Young Street Carrington and moved to Mosquito island with his family at age of 5 in 1916 and remained there until 1923. He describes traveling by boat to and from the island, the Government house he lived, the cooking and domestic conditions, as well as the food they ate. He attended school at Mosquito Island, however most of the services were in Islington and Newcastle.

The children of the island found plenty of leisure time on the island, other families included the Turners, Croeses, Ross', Jones', Jordans, Widdersons and Penfolds. Mr Duggan recalls "we were marched out of school to see the very first of six ships that was launched at the old Government dockyard at Walsh Island and that year was 1919 the first ship being the Delungra . . . I became a merchant seaman later on the S.S. Delungra ...".

In 2015, John's daughter (interviewer) Carmel advised that her father was a third generation 'Duggan' in Newcastle. His father and grandfather were also 'John Duggan', originally from Ireland and settling on Mosquito Island in the 1800s. Her father married Hazel Hawks and they lived a happy life in Newcastle, she recalls her father being an easy going person, very content, and living a full and joyful life. He restored one of the Butcher boats some time ago, and a story about him launching it on the Hunter River featured on NBN News.
SubjectHunter RiverMosquito IslandPersonCarmel CreaseyInterview logA6964(v) _DugganCreatorMargaret HenryCollectionMargaret Henry Oral History ProjectPlaceMosquito IslandDate Created1989-09-17IdentifierA6964(v) _Duggan

Duggan.mp3

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