Connie McDonald was born under a tree just out of Wyndham, Western Australia. McDonald's father was a drover and was not able to spend time with his newborn child. Her mother died a year after her birth and McDonald was given to her mother's sister to be cared for. While an infant, she broke her two legs, and at the hospital it was discovered she had osteogenesis imperfecta (chalky bones). Her father was told of her accident and his wife's death, and he rushed to his daughter's side. He wanted to take care of her but was told that she was to be a ward of the state because he was unemployed and had no wife. The Welfare Department then decided McDonald's Aunt could not give her adequate care and she was sent back to the Forrest River Mission (FRM) to be cared for by the Matron and the older Indigenous girls.
During World War Two, teachers would not work at FRM due to the threat of the Japanese Army, thus a senior Indigenous girl taught and McDonald was her Teacher's Aide. She also helped out with medical duties around the mission. If McDonald could not work out why people were ill from medical books she sought help from the nearby army camp. She was made to care for dead bodies, doing smoking ceremonies to send them on their way.
McDonald often reprimanded the missionaries and managers for ill-treatment of the Indigenous community. When she was thirteen she witnessed the manager kicking a heavily pregnant woman in labour. She wrote complaint letters to the FRM Superintendent, the Minister of Native Welfare and the Archbishop of the Church of England in Perth, which resulted in the Manager being fired. Shortly after writing these letters, she was reunited with her father.
In 1949, McDonald was sent to Alice Springs for two years to receive further education. When she returned to FRM, she worked as the Assistant Teacher and received her own home. McDonald had thought she was equal to the non-Indigenous FRM workers until she was punished because of rumours spread by a male missionary, after he tried unsuccessfully to assault her sexually.
In 1954, McDonald applied for and received citizenship rights. Shortly after she left FRM for Wyndham because she did not get along with the new priest. When she returned, she lived and worked for the Jamieson family, who employed her to care for their children. While there she applied and was accepted for a kindergarten teacher position at Yarrabah, Queensland.
McDonald left for Yarrabah in 1957. She spent two years there teaching before leaving to join the Church Army. In 1962, she was commissioned as a Church Army Lay Evangelist. After her commission ceremony, she was placed in different parishes around Australia, helping Indigenous people. While in East Perth, she suffered a spinal injury that required operations and seven months of rehabilitation. Once recovered, she went back to light duties until she was transferred back to Sydney. In 1967, she resigned from the Church Army due to the pain she was in.
McDonald started a new position as a social welfare worker at the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs, but later resigned because she had a stroke and a heart attack. Although she was told to rest and start caring for herself, she looked after the Aboriginal Girls' hostel at Burwood, and then the Aboriginal Boys' Hostel, before working as a nanny for a short time. Ill health forced her to stop working and rest.
In 1992, McDonald returned to FRM for the first time in 35 years. She was reunited with her family, sharing their memories in their old age. (Main source: Connie Nungulla McDonald, When you grow up, 1996)
