Having been removed from my natural parents as an aboriginal toddler in 1952 then farmedout to ‘white foster parents’ during what proved to be, the most tragic of all policies ever to be implemented by any government in Australia’s history,

On the 16th anniversary of the former PM’s apology to Australia’s Stolen Generation I sat at my dining table listening to the tv reports about the failures of the Closing the Gap policy, and the fact that four of the targets were actually getting worse.

The Bunya Mountains is a spectacular wilderness range forming an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range. It is located approximately 150km from the eastern coast and lying centrally between Kingaroy and Dalby.

Having come within a whisker of losing my husband Bob in June of 2005 and realising just how vulnerable we were to emotional destruction on so many levels, it was time to not just save my husband, but to save our relationship and indeed, the life of my family. I was a survivor in fact, we both were but with Bob being in a such a weakened emotional state and one that I had never witnessed before, I knew I was absolutely on my own. I was it for myself and indeed, the pair of us! Despite having been brought to my knees from a very young age and so, so many times throughout my life, it was never like this…

Having been a long-time fan of the actor Morgan Freeman and after watching the movie The Bucket List for the umpteenth time, I found myself pondering over his line from that movie “Find the Joy in Your Life”. Such a potent line that had really struck a chord with me and yet, I couldn’t comprehend why it had affected me so much especially since the joy in my life had always been my two children. There was no question about that…

From a young age I had a deep love of reading and writing. As a child books were how I experienced the world and I dreamed of one day becoming a writer and creating my own stories. So when I moved to Sydney in my mid 20’s I took advantage of opportunities to attend the NSW Writers Centre at Lilyfield in Sydney’s inner west whenever I could. The Centre was based on the grounds of the beautiful heritage listed former hospital, known as Callan Park. The buildings were made of sandstone and were stunningly preserved from the 1800’s when it was originally built but it held a dark secret, and one that was particularly personal to my family. A secret that was at the front of my mind as I drove into the grounds of the stately buildings for my first writers workshop.

Who’d have thought a 71 year old who could never be described as an avid reader, could find the courage to not just publish her first book When Time Means Nothing, but to enter the rapidly changing and crazy world of digital marketing?

The price involving personal research as I learned, can be brutally high but does the pain in discovery ever go away? Having lived my entire life in damage control albeit subconsciously, the best it ever does is subside to the point where you don’t allow it to interfere in your everyday life. But having said that, the occasion will inevitably arise when someone will turn your world inside out emotionally. It does happen and usually when you least expect it:

Self-Development requires much more than telling your story. As I quickly learned, it goes far beyond putting it all out there and getting things off your chest. It is infinitely more as it requires a much deeper level of honesty than I was ever used to, and it travels deeper within the self than I had ever imagined.

Everyone has history just as everyone has a past with some of it good, some of it not so good and some of it, downright ugly. I spent 54 years of my life running away from mine only to finally come face to face with reality;

Our Inherent Right… When I first began to compile my book ‘When Time Means Nothing’ I knew next to nothing about myself, my siblings, my parents or my family history hence the 17 long years and four months it took to not just sort myself out, but to discover just ‘Who was Who in the Zoo!’

It is simply the way it Has to Be: for the seeker of truth, the soul-searcher and indeed the person trying as I was to make sense of the non-sensical regarding your past…your life choices and the consequences that followed, there comes a point in time when you realise that all you have ever done to try and help yourself is not enough. Simply not enough!