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Grandmother's WWII Darwin-Sydney exodus celebrated in school's Indigenous curriculum

Abbey and Hudson honoured their grandmother's legacy as a child of the Croker Island exodus. (Supplied: West Moreton Anglican College)

Eighty years ago, a little girl was just 10 when she and 94 other Aboriginal children of the stolen generation fled Croker Island when nearby Darwin was bombed by the Japanese during World War II.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and images of people who have died. 

Nida Lowe had been taken from her family in the Barkly region in the Northern Territory in the late 1930s as a child and spent time at the Kahlin compound in Darwin before she was moved to a mission on Croker Island, north-east of Darwin.

When Darwin was bombed in 1942, missionary Margaret Somerville helped the children flee the island and travel 5,000 kilometres over 44 days to Sydney by boat, foot, train and truck. 

After the war, they returned to Croker Island, and it's believed that in about the early '50s Ms Lowe moved to Darwin, before later moving to Katherine.

Nida Lowe was reunited with Margaret Somerville later in life. (Supplied: Rosemary Ward)

After having two children in Darwin, Ms Lowe ultimately had another 10 children.

She sadly died in 2009 before some of her grandchildren, including Abbey and Hudson Ward, were able to get to know her.

But now they are honouring her legacy and proudly sharing her story.

Hudson said he only has vague memories of his grandmother who died when he was young. (Supplied: Rosemary Ward)

Family stories handed down

Hudson, 17, has just vague memories of his grandmother because he was so young when she died.

"Mum and Dad took us as kids to the Territory whenever they could, so we could get to know Mum's side of the family," he said.

"My mother always shared stories with us explaining what Nanna did with other people on that journey and showed her incredible resilience."

Nida Lowe was born in 1932. (Supplied: Rosemary Ward)

With his 13-year-old sister Abbey, the pair created a painting of their grandmother's journey showing the trail she traversed across the continent for a NAIDOC exhibition at their school, West Moreton Anglican College.

"To show how far she went as a child my age," Abbey said.

She said she was glad the school had made an effort to celebrate their grandmother's story.

"My Nanna is a big part of my family's culture and it's really good to hear that people are interested in her story because it's really important to me," Abbey said.

Abbey and Hudson Ward said they are proud to share their grandmother's legacy with their school peers. (Supplied: West Moreton Anglican College)

Hudson said it felt good to share his grandmother's story of resilience with his school peers.

"It makes me happy that they get to learn about it," he said.

Hudson also learnt "significant words" from his grandmother's language, Wambaya, for an oral performance at his school during its NAIDOC celebrations.

"We learnt the words "light" and "together", light being lajarri and together, barlagga," he said.

"It's pretty good getting more knowledge about my grandmother and her culture."

At the college, Indigenous perspectives learning innovator Phyillis Marsh, a MaMu woman from the Mundubarra people, leads the college's approach to embedding First Nations knowledge and culture into the curriculum.

Her work includes facilitating weekly cultural lessons and a leadership program for First Nations students.

"As a part of getting ready for the experience we went out on the WestMAC grounds and we used ochre to paint our skin while wearing our school uniforms to get photos, and for the performance."

* The ABC has been given permission to use the person's name and image by her daughter.

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