About this Book

In 1926, Aboriginal elders gave permission for Lallie Matbar, a young woman of the 'Linden mob', to marry Jack Akbar, an Afghan cameleer. Under the Aboriginal Act of 1905, however, their relationship was illegal. From 1926 to 1928, Jack, armed with character references attesting to his reliable standing in the community, repeatedly petitioned the Western Australian government for permission to marry the woman he loved. Despite Jack's efforts, the government not only denied that permission, but sought to hunt the couple down and separate them forever. Linden Girl is the astonishing true story of two outlawed lives - a tale of escape from persecution in the hands of misguided, over-zealous government authorities, providing a chilling reminder of a shameful chapter in the social and political history of this country. Institutional internment, flight to South Australia, arrest and extradition, duplicity and harassment; suffering a lifetime of scrutiny, the file on the irrepressible Lallie Matbar was only closed by her death in 1970.