Restoring a sense of belonging

For 60 years, Aunty Therese Webster’s mother lived in denial, claiming her ancestry as Italian rather than Aboriginal, for fear of losing her children.

Aunty Therese’s mother Kathleen was a child of the Stolen Generations who grew up in a succession of children’s homes.

Aunty Therese heard whispers about Kathleen’s past but the truth didn’t surface until Kathleen had died and a nephew called with a curious question: “I’ve got a blood disorder that’s only found in Aborigines. Know anything about that?”

For the past 20 years, Aunty Therese, of the Ngarigo people in New South Wales, has worked doubly hard to make up for a sense of lost identity and belonging, and to campaign for equality for Indigenous Australians.

“I am a proud Aboriginal woman,” says Aunty Therese, one of Australia’s delegates to August’s 9th World Indigenous Women and Wellness Conference, a Queensland delegate at the recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Gathering in Canberra, and a Seniors Week Award recipient (story page 21).

“I tell all the young people I meet to be proud of who they are and where they come from. My mother never could enjoy that.”

A nurse for more than 40 years, Aunty Therese settled in Laidley in south-east Queensland in 2001. She became an Indigenous Education Counsellor for the cluster of Lockyer Valley high schools and threw herself into community work:  Neighbourhood Watch; Laidley Ambulance Committee; Relay for Life; and Cancer Council to name a few.

This year, Aunty Therese became a Certificate III in Community Service trainee with Laidley Community Centre.

“I am 62 and I am proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks,” Aunty Therese beams, sweeping her hand around a newly-refurbished room that will soon run Internet and computer lessons for both youth and senior citizens.

When not lobbying council and businesses, campaigning for improved transport and health services or more job opportunities in the area, Aunty Therese nurtures social connections. She runs Indigenous girls’ gatherings for 12 to 17 year-olds and women’s gatherings.

“Yarning is good for the spirit,” she says.

Aunty Therese gets a real kick out of seeing the young women from her girls’ gatherings “grow in confidence”.

“You can achieve anything with a positive attitude,” she maintains.

Aunty Therese desperately wants to help the Lockyer youth too but has to draw a line: “Much as I dislike admitting it, since I tell youngsters there’s no such thing as ‘can’t’, there are some things a female Elder cannot do. It’s men business.”

More information
Link-Up helps reunite Aboriginal families separated by adoption, forced removal, fostering or institutionalisation.
Phone 1800 200 855 or email contact@qld.link-up.org.au