Woman, mother, land owner, survivor

Diana was an Aboriginal woman from the Piambong/Mudgee area of New South Wales.

From the loss of her parents at a young age, through childhood marriage and motherhood to her connection with one of the most important families in Australian history, Diana's life was nothing short of inspirational. It's a story that needs to be told.

It is the story of a mother of ten children who held title to a considerable amount of land in a time when it was unusual for a woman to do so.

It is also the story of an individual who succeeded against the odds.

Notes about Diana's name

Diana is referred to by some of her descendants as Diana MUDGEE and by others as Diana RAYNER/RAYNOR. During the course of her life she also went by the names JENNINGS, KNIGHT and PHILIPS/PHILLIPS. For the purposes of this website and to avoid any confusion we refer to her simply as Diana, unless there is a need to be more specific.

About the Diana silhouette image

'If only we had a photo’

This is a sentiment often expressed by Diana’s descendants and the creators of this website. Sadly, whilst descendants and researchers have gathered many documents relating to Diana over the years, the one thing missing is a photograph.

However, we felt that it would be unfair to her memory to omit some form of visual connection to Diana. With this in mind, we have created a silhouette image to represent her and to give her a presence on these pages. Please note that by no means is this intended to be a likeness of her. The signature block below the silhouette is taken from Diana's application for Conditional Purchase and shows her signature X.