Tuesday, November 22, 2011

RETTA DIXON

Retta Dixon, whose name Ethel Governor gave to her and Jimmy's second child, appears to have been a missionary with the Australian Inland Mission.
In March 1899 it was reported that she had been on a trip to Shoalhaven with Mrs Timbury, and it appeared that both of them were connected with the La Perouse Aboriginal Mission.
AIM was very active on the south coast, and it is possibly through Retta that Ethel met her second husband, another part-Aboriginal man, Francis Brown.
Retta Dixon ministered to Ethel's first husband, Jimmy Governor, while he was in Darlinghurst Gaol before being hanged.
One of the female members of the Long family who started the Australian Inland Mission was also named 'Retta'.