Famous People from Kempsey
Ray Kelly
Ray Kelly grew up in Bellbrook Reserve. The son of rabbit trappers Margaret Adelaide Campbell and Raymond Chevrot Kelly, Ray was cared for by a woman named Ivy Long who belonged to the Gambaynggar people and and her husband Donald Thompson who was a Danggadi man.
Early in life, Ray Kelly learned to box to defend himself and later used his skills as a boxer to support his family until retiring due to an eye injury. In 1958, Kelly was a new father working for Ken Jones, the Mayor of Armidale. In 1966 he became involved with the Association for Assimilation of Aborigines (AAA) and was chosen to represent the Association on a tour of New Zealand. He advocated for the revival and maintenance of Aboriginal culture in New South Wales often with friend John Delaney whom he met in 1956.
Ray Kelly was the first Aboriginal person to be employed by the New South Wales Parks and Wild Life Service in 1973. He was instrumental in beginning the process of recording Aboriginal Heritage sites across New South Wales.
NPWS site with NSW Sites of Significance report
Ray Kelly grew up in Bellbrook Reserve. The son of rabbit trappers Margaret Adelaide Campbell and Raymond Chevrot Kelly, Ray was cared for by a woman named Ivy Long who belonged to the Gambaynggar people and and her husband Donald Thompson who was a Danggadi man.
Early in life, Ray Kelly learned to box to defend himself and later used his skills as a boxer to support his family until retiring due to an eye injury. In 1958, Kelly was a new father working for Ken Jones, the Mayor of Armidale. In 1966 he became involved with the Association for Assimilation of Aborigines (AAA) and was chosen to represent the Association on a tour of New Zealand. He advocated for the revival and maintenance of Aboriginal culture in New South Wales often with friend John Delaney whom he met in 1956.
Ray Kelly was the first Aboriginal person to be employed by the New South Wales Parks and Wild Life Service in 1973. He was instrumental in beginning the process of recording Aboriginal Heritage sites across New South Wales.
NPWS site with NSW Sites of Significance report
Slim Dusty
Australian country music legend of more than 100 albums and singles, winning international fame, Gold Records, and 36 Golden Guitars, Slim Dusty toured extensively from 1954 in The Slim Dusty Show and recorded for over 50 years with EMI.
Slim Dusty was brought up on a farm and listened to cowboy music played on the radio in the 1930s. His father played the violin and sang Irish and music hall songs and recited Lawson and Paterson. Slim Dusty left school at 12 to work on the farm. He renamed himself Slim Dusty in 1938 at the age of 11 and made his first professional appearance at the Kempsey Show in 1944. After his father died in 1945, Slim Dusty ran the farm for a year and wrote, When the Rain Tumbles Down in July, a classic 'seen as pivotal to Australia turning from American influence and giving Australia its own country music genre' (Peter Bowers, 'The Boy Who Lived His Dream', The Sunday Age 21 September 2003).
In 1946 Slim Dusty left the farm to try for a performing career. For a decade it was hard work before a breakthrough in 1957 with a recording of A Pub With No Beer composed by Gordon Parsons from an original poem A Pub Without Beer written by Dan Sheahan and first published in The North Queensland Register in January 1944. Slim Dusty continued touring and recording for most of his life.
Australian country music legend of more than 100 albums and singles, winning international fame, Gold Records, and 36 Golden Guitars, Slim Dusty toured extensively from 1954 in The Slim Dusty Show and recorded for over 50 years with EMI.
Slim Dusty was brought up on a farm and listened to cowboy music played on the radio in the 1930s. His father played the violin and sang Irish and music hall songs and recited Lawson and Paterson. Slim Dusty left school at 12 to work on the farm. He renamed himself Slim Dusty in 1938 at the age of 11 and made his first professional appearance at the Kempsey Show in 1944. After his father died in 1945, Slim Dusty ran the farm for a year and wrote, When the Rain Tumbles Down in July, a classic 'seen as pivotal to Australia turning from American influence and giving Australia its own country music genre' (Peter Bowers, 'The Boy Who Lived His Dream', The Sunday Age 21 September 2003).
In 1946 Slim Dusty left the farm to try for a performing career. For a decade it was hard work before a breakthrough in 1957 with a recording of A Pub With No Beer composed by Gordon Parsons from an original poem A Pub Without Beer written by Dan Sheahan and first published in The North Queensland Register in January 1944. Slim Dusty continued touring and recording for most of his life.
Robyn Klein
Robin Klein was born in Kempsey and educated at Newcastle Girls' High School. After working as a teacher, nurse, library assistant and craft worker, she became a full-time writer in 1981. Her first book, The Giraffe in Pepperell Street, was published in 1978. She has since written many books for children and young adults, most notably Thing (1982) and Came Back To Show You I Could Fly (1989), both of which won Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. Klein's books explore themes such as friendship between children and adults, alienation, and disability with styles that range from humour to fantasy.
Robin Klein was born in Kempsey and educated at Newcastle Girls' High School. After working as a teacher, nurse, library assistant and craft worker, she became a full-time writer in 1981. Her first book, The Giraffe in Pepperell Street, was published in 1978. She has since written many books for children and young adults, most notably Thing (1982) and Came Back To Show You I Could Fly (1989), both of which won Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. Klein's books explore themes such as friendship between children and adults, alienation, and disability with styles that range from humour to fantasy.
Nada Ward
Nada Ward was born at Burnt Bridge Mission. She was removed from her family along with seven of her siblings when she was aged two. The authorities took the children while their mother was attending a funeral. Ward was sent to Bomaderry Childrens' Home. At the age of eight Ward was sent with her sisters to Cootamundra Girls' Home while her brothers were sent to Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home. Ward had some access to her parents during this time but parental letters and gifts where withheld.
Between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two, Ward worked for a Doctor and was given pocket money but no wages. Ward later served as health worker for the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service.
Ward's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).
Nada Ward was born at Burnt Bridge Mission. She was removed from her family along with seven of her siblings when she was aged two. The authorities took the children while their mother was attending a funeral. Ward was sent to Bomaderry Childrens' Home. At the age of eight Ward was sent with her sisters to Cootamundra Girls' Home while her brothers were sent to Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home. Ward had some access to her parents during this time but parental letters and gifts where withheld.
Between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two, Ward worked for a Doctor and was given pocket money but no wages. Ward later served as health worker for the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service.
Ward's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation, edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).
Harold Buck Davis
Harold Davis was born the eldest of twelve children and attended Greenhill Primary School, an Aboriginal School just outside the Greenhill Mission. He then attended high school in Kempsey, moved to Redfern in the early 1970sand his first job was polishing trophies and working in a meat factory. An avid football player, Davis played First Grade football for many years including eight years representative for Campbelltown in the Aboriginal Knock-Out competition.
Davis and his wife Sue have lived in Campbelltown for more than twenty-eight years and together they have fostered and cared for many Koori children. Davis has held many jobs throughout his working life, including working in the building industry, as a licensed security guard and in 1999 as an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer with the Campbelltown Police Services. More recently Davis has become part of a support team that assists the Aboriginal and Pacific communities toward developing peaceful relations and resolution of conflicts between the two cultures.
Harold Davis was born the eldest of twelve children and attended Greenhill Primary School, an Aboriginal School just outside the Greenhill Mission. He then attended high school in Kempsey, moved to Redfern in the early 1970sand his first job was polishing trophies and working in a meat factory. An avid football player, Davis played First Grade football for many years including eight years representative for Campbelltown in the Aboriginal Knock-Out competition.
Davis and his wife Sue have lived in Campbelltown for more than twenty-eight years and together they have fostered and cared for many Koori children. Davis has held many jobs throughout his working life, including working in the building industry, as a licensed security guard and in 1999 as an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer with the Campbelltown Police Services. More recently Davis has become part of a support team that assists the Aboriginal and Pacific communities toward developing peaceful relations and resolution of conflicts between the two cultures.
Aboriginal people associated with the Macleay valley who have achieved recognition include: Emma Jane Callaghan, Pat Dixon, Ray Kelly, Burnum Burnum
Ivy Waters i(1 works by) (birth name: Ivy Irene Hudson) (a.k.a. Ivy Irene Waters)
Also writes as: Babbling Brook
Born: 1899 Kempsey, New South Wales ; Died: 1973 Kempsey, New South Wales
Gender: Female
Also writes as: Babbling Brook
Born: 1899 Kempsey, New South Wales ; Died: 1973 Kempsey, New South Wales
Gender: Female
Harry Penrith
Thomas Keneally
The River Town
Shorty Ranger
Thomas Keneally
The River Town
Shorty Ranger
The Spring by Judith Wright and Bora Ring
Arakoon Brush Scenery on the Macleay by Frederick Sydney Wilson from Australian Songs and Poems
Arakoon Brush Scenery on the Macleay by Frederick Sydney Wilson from Australian Songs and Poems
- Jolene Anderson, actress and It Takes Two Series 2 winner
- Greg Inglis, rugby league player (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
- Albert Kelly, rugby league player (Gold Coast Titans)
- Thomas Keneally, novelist (David Gordon Kirkpatrick), singeAustralian author
- Amos Morris, singer
- Penelope Plummer, Miss World 1968
- Dennis Richardson, Officer of the Order of Australia, former Director-General of Security of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and former Australian ambassador to the United States
- Amos Roberts, former rugby league player (Wigan Warriors)
- Joe Robinson, guitarist and winner of Australia's Got Talent, Season 2
- Hector Thompson, boxer of the 1970s and '80s
- Aiden Tolman, rugby league player (Canterbury Bulldogs)
- Amy Winters, Paralympic gold medallist