Stories

Racism has been a constant part of Uncle Doug’s life. He grew up on Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve in Queensland in the 1930s.

Ruth arrived at Cherbourg mission when she was six and a half months old. It was during the Depression and Ruth’s mother had taken her parents to Cherbourg where she was told they’d be cared for.

Iris remembers a man arriving at her home on Cherbourg Reserve when she was 12 years old. He announced that in two days, a truck would arrive to take Iris, her mother and siblings to a house in the community.

“It (the Intervention) has taken away our dignity and our identity,” Miliwanga says. “We used to have a Council of Elders in our community … people were well aware that if they did something wrong we would have this council solve it for us …

When Mark started listening to First Nations people's accounts of our shared Australian history, he was shocked. “This is where I’ve grown up my whole life,” he says, admitting that, “Here I am, a 28 year old guy, and I’d never heard these stories.”

Bob will never know the full extent of the cultural heritage that was erased when his grandfather was taken from an Aboriginal mission and placed in a boys’ home at the age of 12.

Iris grew up on Cherbourg Reserve in Queensland. “At the age of 15–16 the government organised for you to work as a domestic woman,” she explains.

Like many people living in Australia, Fiona didn't know much about First Nations people beyond the stereotypes portrayed by the media.

Maggie was only six when she first experienced prejudice. But despite her young age, what Maggie experienced was, and is, commonplace for many First Nations people throughout Australia.