AustLit

'I am a Noongar woman who was born in the central wheat-belt area of Western Australia in 1947, at a town called Kellerberrin. It was a very hard life for Aboriginal people at that particular time in the past. We did not have the choices and opportunities that our young ones have today in society. When I was growing up, the governent policies made living conditions very difficult for us. The protection and segregation policies forced our mob to stop speaking our language and practising our culture, and separated and isolated us from the main towns. The authorities expected us to adapt to the European lifestyle and abandon our traditional way of life. The effects of these policies had a devastating impact of our lives, and many of us still suffer from the effects today. I hope by telling my story it gives the younger generation a better understanding of how different things were for us in the past, compared to how it is for them now.'  (Introduction)