Dr Robert Isaacs OAM was in the region on the weekend as a guest speaker at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, and to celebrate the new locality of Yebble near Gracetown, named after his great grandfather Samuel Isaacs.
Samuel was born in Augusta in 1845 and given the name Yebble by his Aboriginal mother Darinder, who died during childbirth.
On December 1, 1876, Samuel was working for the Bussell family as a stockman when he saw the SS Georgette stranded in Calgardup Bay.
He rode 20 kilometres on horseback to Wallcliffe House, recruited 16-year-old Grace Bussell, and spent the next four hours bringing passengers to shore. The pair rescued 54 people from the rough seas.
While Ms Bussell was awarded a Silver Medal and gold watch from the Royal Humane Society, another gold watch from the British Board of Trade, and had the towns Gracetown and Lake Grace named after her, Samuel received a Bronze Medal from the Royal Humane Society and a parcel of land near the Margaret River.
Dr Isaacs said his family were overwhelmed that the area has been named Yebble.
"We call them unsung heroes, people should be recognised in certain ways because a lot of people do not receive an OAM," he said.
"In 1876, great grandfather and Grace left a legacy that will always be treasured by myself as a descendant of the Isaacs family and people from the South West.
"I met with the family last week and it is another accomplishment that has been done, it has taken a long time.
"We are delighted and I think there is more to come for Aboriginal culture and future signage on streets, even statues."
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Dr Isaacs recently released a biography titled Two Cultures, One Story about his early life growing up in institutions after he was stolen from his family at six months of age.
When he was 17 years old, Dr Isaacs was kicked out of Clontarf Boys Town and told never to return.
He found his family by chance in the late 1970's at a soup kitchen on Beaufort Street in Perth.
"I got to know Aunty Iva Isaacs who married a young Samuel Isaacs, she told us young boys to go down and research the history of the Isaacs family, especially great grandfather Samuel.
"I took it upon myself to go down with a tape recorder and microphone.
"People who were born and bred in the areas of Busselton, Margaret River, Augusta and Bunbury had a lot of knowledge about the time they lived on the camps and reserves.
"They had a lot of knowledge of their land and the ways of their heritage, hunting, sourcing food, how to clothe themselves when they killed a kangaroo and possums.
"I wanted to do a lot more about my upbringing as a young boy from the Stolen Generation and what happened to a lot of boys and girls, life myself, who were taken from their mums at six months of age and put in institutions.
"I was put in three institutions."
Dr Isaacs was first taken to St Joseph's in Subiaco, then was moved into another institution at four years of age, which was run by the Christian Brothers in Wilson.
"As you got a little bit older you ended up at Clontarf Boys Town," he said.
He was brought up in those institutions 24/7 until he reached 17 years of age.
"Never did anyone come from the Native Welfare Department into Clontarf Boys Town to say to me whether I had a mum or dad, family or brothers or sisters and so on," he said.
"The officers from the Native Welfare Department were supposed to visit these institutions almost week-by-week to see how a young boy or girl were going in their childhood, education and health.
"That was outright neglect of government right across Australia.
"There was legislation called the Native Welfare Act on how to govern one race of people, Aboriginal people across Australia.
"I felt the brunt of this whole thing, those brothers had no interest in telling me or even preparing me for life.
"When I left Clontarf they never told me that one day I would get married, or never told me that one day I would need a job or to behave so I would not get into trouble with the cops.
"There was no proper counselling that took place like in the schools today.
"The Christian Brothers really took it out on the young kids, and they certainly took it out on me for no known reason.
"Everyday, if you did not understand in the classroom kids would be called up the front and the brothers would start hitting them with a strap or cane and sometimes with their fist, physical stuff.
"We were only nine or 10 years of age, I saw kids wet their pants because they were so frightened because they knew they would be hurt.
"They had so much power and authority, the things that were going on in these institutions, especially Clontarf."
Dr Isaacs said there were 250 boys at Clontarf in those days and 242 came from the UK.
"There were only eight Aboriginal boys, and we ourselves did not know about our identity," he said.
"The government and Native Welfare Department stole my identity, they deliberately kept me distant from my relatives.
"When I challenged them at 21 years of age, I went to the Native Welfare Department and wanted to know where my mother and family were.
"They were not interested they told me they did not have my file and that it was burnt in a fire.
"It wasn't until 1977 when I went to the soup kitchen, and there was all my Mob.
"When this old lady told me she knew about the Isaacs family from Busselton and Margaret River, she walked me around that kitchen in Beaufort Street opened the doors and there they were."
After Dr Isaacs was told never to go back to Clontarf but he did. He returned and set up the Old Boys Association and the Aboriginal Education College which still resides there today.
"Two hundred Aboriginal students are getting a good education, graduating with excellence and getting jobs," he said.
"Clontarf is no longer used as an institution, the Christian Brothers handed it over to the Noongar people who made that place a school.
"Education was most important for me to give these kids a start in life."
Two Cultures, One Story was co-authored by Tanz Byramji, taking eight years to complete.
Dr Isaacs biography will be officially be launched on Friday, May 21, 2021 by the Western Australian Governor Kim Beazley, and is available from book shops or online.
