Aunty Ada Simpson spoke at Cherbourg’s public truth-telling event on 18 November, telling the crowd about her life growing up under government oversight.
“Listening to the stories that were told brings back memories of how we were all treated.
“My story is about the policies and procedures that the goverment had us living under.
“When I was growing up, I always thought that the government was looking after us.
“But to tell you the truth, whenever I stood in front of a white person, I would never look them in the eye. I would always look down at their feet, because that’s just how I felt.
“I felt that they weren’t the authoritative figure.
“I wanted to do the truth-telling for my family, for future generations, because I was told by the truth-telling lot that no one could touch that material for a hundred years.
“I wanted my future generations to know just what I went through. I made a lot of mistakes, as a lot of young people do.
“But it was the policies and procedures that we lived under that really, really got to me.
“It wasn’t until I became a Christian and God gave me confidence that I’d speak out and tell my truth to people.
“I love my culture, but I love God too.
“Sitting and listening to people tell their stories (…) I was so taken in with all that was said.
“I probably would have been one of the lucky ones, because I was never put in the dormitory.
“I was never mistreated because I lived with my great aunt.
“My mother had to go out to work, and so I missed out on family life. I never knew a family – I think that’s why I had so many children.
“We never had a home of our own, and that’s why I always maintained growing up that I would always keep my family together.
“Living back then it was a struggle, and you will hear many, many different and sad stories.
“There was a bushfire at one stage up at the forestry somewhere, and Jack [my husband] was sick before the truck came around to get everyone to go and fight the fires.
“He was called out to the office on the next Monday morning, and he was put in jail.
“I didn’t even know – no word was sent out to me. Night came and I didn’t know where he was, no one told me anything.
“He had to spend the night in jail because he didn’t go out to fight the bushfire.
“There were little things like that. The things that were mandatory: we were told that we had to go to the clinic every week to get checked, to get our children checked.
“It was that type of rule we lived under.”
