This changed exactly one century later with Mrs Campbell’s descendants this week travelling to town to pay tribute to their ancestor.

More than 20 members of Mrs Campbell’s extended family headed to the cemetery on Wednesday morning to unveil a plaque in the rose garden in honour of their ancestor before going to the Pioneer Cemetery to put crosses on the graves of two of her children.

Mrs Campbell’s great-great-granddaughter Di Wall spoke at the dedication of the plaque-marking ceremony, revealing the tale of Mrs Campbell’s life.

“She was born, lived, loved, lost and finally died all within a couple of miles of this spot,” Mrs Wall said.

“Mary Campbell (nee Raymond) was born to an Aboriginal woman whose English name was Clara, and a white father whose identity is, as yet, unproven.

“She met her future husband William Campbell when they were both children at Reverend Watson’s mission. They married in Apsley Mission in 1852 and had at least three children.

“William disappeared from the records in the 1860s and Mary went on to have at least two children with John Stanley, however, we are saddened we haven’t been able to track down any of their descendants.”

Mrs Wall, who has spent the past 30 years researching her family tree, also outlined why it had taken the family so long to gather for the ceremony.

“Despite being my great-great-grandmother, until 18 months ago I had no knowledge of her existence,” she sad.

“The Aboriginal part of our ancestry had been kept hidden, and the knowledge of it lost in the generations. When I ferreted out the truth, and recovered from the shock of realising I was not who I thought I was, I was really miffed at the deception.

“My cousins and I understand why the generations before us might have thought it prudent to erase any knowledge of our Aboriginality, but we are mostly of one voice in our pride at having descended from an original Australian.”

Following the placement of the crosses at the Pioneer Cemetery, which was also attended by Mayor Anne Jones and deputy mayor Mike Augee as well as Aboriginal elder Joyce Williams, the family watched a corroboree performed by four local boys and a didgeridoo performance by Bruce Carr.

“It was fantastic, everything went so well,” Barbara Strong, one of the organisers, said.

“More than three generations representing a period of 40 to 50 years of our family was there … I’ve never exchanged so many email addresses.”