Alngindabu
(1874-1961) Aboriginal elder
Alngindabu, also spelt Alyandabu and also known as Lucy McGinness, (c.1874 – 23 September 1961), was a female senior elder (Almiyuk) from Chapana, near the Finniss River in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The Lucy Mine was named after her, and her descendants include prominent leaders and activists Joe McGinness, Val McGinness, Jack McGinness and Kathy Mills.
Early life
Trained as a domestic servant from childhood, Alngindabu was named Lucy by her white bosses. She became an expert seamstress and cook. She spoke the Kungarakany language and belonged to the Kungarakany people, a group whom the Europeans called the "Paperbark People".
As a young woman Alngindabu was one of the few survivors of the Stapleton Siding massacre in 1895, which killed approximately 80 Kungarakany people. Many people were given poisoned damper in which weed killer was supposedly mistaken for baking powder.
Marriage and family
Around 1900, Alngindabu married Stephen Joseph McGinness, an Irishman, and they went on to have five children: Bernard, John (Jack), Margaret, Valentine (Val) and Joseph (Joe) – all of whom were baptised as Catholics.
After Stephen was dismissed from his job, the family left for Bynoe Harbour to find work, but along the way, Lucy's brother Maranda discovered tin ore. They officially took up the Lucy Mine in October 1908, which became the McGinnesses' home.
“Alngindabu” enters the record as (1874-1961) Aboriginal elder. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alngindabu, 1874-1961 and Aboriginal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Alngindabu” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alngindabu, 1874-1961 and Aboriginal provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q21535521. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1874, 1961, 1895 and 1900.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alngindabu”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alngindabu primary sources, Alngindabu archive and Alngindabu research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alngindabu”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alngindabu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.