20 July, 2016 14:45
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A 75-year-old Goondiwindi woman has once again today reiterated her theory that there was a large population of dark-haired Southern Europeans living in Western Queensland several generations ago.
Despite the fact that her family tree strictly states that her ancestors have been in the district for over 120 years, without any signs of European surnames, Margie Moore insists that it wasn’t uncommon for local farmers to marry Spanish women during the mid to late 1800’s.
“It was a common occurence around here,” she says to her granddaughters, in response to their questions about why they have such curly hair.
“My side of the family have always gone very dark in Summer. It’s the olive skin from the Spanish blood in the Griffiths (maiden name)”.
However, Margie’s 21-year-old grandaughter Sally isn’t convinced.
“If there’s so much Spanish in the family, wouldn’t you expect Gran to be Catholic?” she said.
“She’s a white-bread Anglican… There’s something fishy going on. A lot of question marks,”
“Gran is the only person I’ve ever heard say that there used to be Spanish people in Gundy”
However, Margie is quick to dismiss these claims with a flutter of casual racism.
The fact that five of her grandsons are listed in the top ten try-scorers in the history of Southern Downs rugby league also appears to be lost on her.
“The Spanish have always been great rugby league footballers,” she says.
