Guringai, GuriNgai, Wannangini, Walkaloa: A long con, gone on too long.
Last Chapter we met Mr Warren Whitfield, and saw his false narrative defy history, Culture, and logic to connect his supposed family descent from an Aboriginal Woman named Sophy, to my ‘famous’ Ancestor Bungaree.
Never mind that Sophy was actually Sally, and has no connection to Bungaree or his mob.
We read Mr Whitfield claim Sophy was Bungaree’s niece, daughter, and grand-daughter, while demonstrating a deficit in knowledge of Aboriginal Culture & Custom.
Warren Whitfield proclaimed, “official records are irrelevant” and of his ‘tribes‘ Knowledge Holders “all are dead now—long dead.”
Whitfield only found out who Bungaree was in 1997, because a another White Man told him, and is certain that the name of his Clan/People is Walkaloa, but they are now referred to as Guringai.
Next we saw Mr Whitfield create not one, but 2 business/corporate entities with almost the same name, but with one operating out of North Queensland? Strap in.
2004
- Mrs Tracey-Lee Howie takes over running Guringai Tribal Link.
Warren Whitfield’s younger niece Tracey-Lee Robinson, was born in Cronulla, NSW, in 1971. Tracy-Lee alternates (seemingly at random) between going by either Mrs or Ms Tracey-lee Howie, Tracey Howie, and sometimes Walkaloa Wunyunah.
Sometimes Tracey-Lee goes further, claiming to be:
- this Country.
- the grains of sand on the beach.
- the rocks, the lakes, the ocean.
- the trees, the stars that glisten & the sun that shines upon us all.
- the lore here;
Yet Tracey-Lee herself admits (when under oath) to only becoming ‘interested’ in Aboriginal issues in 1991 after 20 years of living and identifying as a non-Aboriginal Australian.
As par 150 of this court judgement from 2014 reads:
Howie is the senior female Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Officer for the Guringai Tribal Link Aboriginal Corporation. She is a Wanangine/Guringai person who has lived on the Central Coast for 33 years and has been involved in the Aboriginal community since 1991. She has learned the stories of the area through knowledge gathered over the years and by listening, as a child, to stories being told by family members and elders and looking at and listening to the natural landscape (Exhibit B13 Witness Statement of Tracy Lee Howie p 4 – 20).
Since relocating as an adult from Cronulla to the Central Coast, Tracey-Lee has had a very successful career following in Warren Whitfield’s footsteps to become a professional pseudo-Aboriginal Person.
Mrs Tracey-Lee Howie is current director of multiple corporate entities including the still registered and operating Guringai Tribal Link Aboriginal Corporation; Guringai Tribal Link, (NOT an Aboriginal Corporation), Wannangini Pty Ltd (NOT an Aboriginal Corporation), Awabakal and Guringai Pty Ltd, (NOT an Aboriginal Corporation), and a range of other interests. When not juggling these ‘responsibilities’, Tracey-Lee passes herself off as a Cultural Heritage Officer in a range of locations she does not to have any genuine Aboriginal Cultural connection to.
Tracey-Lee identifies herself whenever given the opportunity as a member of the Garigal-Walkaloa clans, or a Wanangine/Guringai person, or a descendant of Traditional Peoples, a “traditional bloodline custodian” and usually as a direct descendant of Bungaree, through his fictional daughter Sophy.
In reality there is no evidence of actual involvement with the wider Aboriginal community prior to, or since the creation of Guringai Tribal Link, and no evidence that these people are Aboriginal, let alone descendant’s of Bungaree and Matora.
Tracey claims to have learned the stories of the area through knowledge gathered over the years (without specifying where, when or how this ‘knowledge’ was gained), and by listening, as a child, to stories being told by family members and elders and looking at and listening to the natural landscape.
Despite the disingenuous claims put forward by Tracey-Lee and her associates, the evidence is clear that Tracey-Lee has no genuine Cultural connection to the Central Coast, is not a confirmed descendant, direct or otherwise of Bungaree, and worst of all Tracey-Lee is aware this is the case.
There is not a single piece of evidence to indicate Tracey Howie is related in any way to my genuine confirmed Aboriginal Ancestors Bungaree (& Matora).
Every piece of so-called Cultural knowledge Tracey-lee possesses is an artifact of the false narrative created by Warren Whitfield, with a dollop of the ‘wisdom’ of Goolabeen thrown in for good measure.
Goolabeen is a significant figure in pseudo-Aboriginal circles.
This fictional narrative was then uncritically swallowed by some in the non-Aboriginal Community, particularly those heavily incentivised to believe that they really are special girls and boys. This can not be an accident, nor a mistake of fact, it was deliberate and shrewd, as the following demonstrates.
Independently at this stage, of the machinations of the so-called Guringai Tribal Link Aboriginal Corporation, a local man made a fortuitous discovery, making the local news in this sleepy part of the world.
Bob Waterer discovers parent’s birth certificates.
As detailed on the Manly Warringah Pittwater Aboriginal Support Group, Bob Waterer was 81 years old, when he discovered documents in his late sister’s house that confirmed his Aboriginal heritage. A book was soon to follow.
2006
Warren’s false narrative starts to be seen online. Warren has added embellishments to Sophy’s story, given all he is certain of is there was an Aboriginal Woman who may have been named Sophy.
With Tracey Howie taking over Guringai Tribal Link, Warren Whitfield moves to Magnetic Island in Queensland, and starts another loosely Aboriginal themed business; this time conducting 4wd eco tours on another Mob’s Country, while claiming to be a Aboriginal ethno-botanist, “whose knowledge of the island and its plants is unsurpassed.”
Warren Whitfield starts another Aboriginal company in QLD, Fire Stick Tours.
Warren Whitfield claims this time to be a ‘descendant of the first Aboriginal King of Sydney.
Indigenous Business Report 2006-2007
Mr Warren Whitfield again making the false claim to be a direct descendant of Bungaree in 2006.
This racist shift in narrative runs counter to the assertion that any Guringai Tribal Link members descended from Charlotte Ashby could ever be a ‘Direct Bloodline descendant of Bungaree‘. Members such as Tracey Howie, Warren Whitford, and recent spokesperson of sorts, Paul Craig.
and yet all three continue to make these false claims today.
There is no sure indication in the trove of data this group have placed online about themselves as to why Warren Whitfield would move so far from his supposed Ancestral homelands, but there are clues…
Truth-telling from a neurodiverse perspective. 
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