Table Of Content

In Our Own Right Black Australian Nurses’ Stories Dedicated to Indigenous Australian nurses who have passed before ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TT hrough CATSIN’s membership and networking,names of Indigenous nurses and assistant nurses were obtained.Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses were approached to submit or tell their stories;several declined.Telling their stories might have been too confronting – painful issues would have opened up old wounds.Their right to refuse was respected. To those who have chosen to share their story,thank you.It would have been quite painful for many of you as your stories are very powerful.It has taken great courage for you to speak and write about your memories,experiences and feelings. Although the purpose of this book was to collect the stories of registered nurses,there are,however,stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women – excluded from undertaking nurse training – who worked as assistant nurses and untrained carers.These women are also recognised for their contribution. This publication was initially funded by the Australian Government Office of the Status of Women (OSW) under the Women’s Development Programme project grants 2003–2004.Our thanks go to Senator the Hon Kay Patterson for her generous support for this project.We are indebted to Caroline Oakley from OSW,for her invaluable support,guidance and great patience with this publication,assisted by Carolyn Paisley-Dew.Jeannine Bevan was the Senior Adviser at the time with Kerry Flanagan heading the Office as First Assistant Secretary. CATSIN would also like to acknowledge Associate Professor Kim Usher, School of Nursing, James Cook University,Townsville [see also Contemporary Nurse 19/1–2 (2005) pp.17–31],for her significant contribution and assistance in writing the proposal. The editorial,design and promotions team at Contemporary Nurse has crafted these materials into expression as a book.In Our Own Right:Black Australian Nurses’ Storieswas distributed to every Contemporary Nursesubscriber in August 2005. Acknowledgement and gratitude is due to all the Indigenous nurses who sub- mitted their stories to make this publication a reality.To all those who were approached and did not submit their stories,thank you for considering doing so. We all appreciate your contribution to Indigenous nursing and health care. Sally S.GooldOAM CATSIN,June 2005 In Our Own Right Black Australian Nurses’ Stories Edited by SALLY S. GOOLD OAM and KERRYNNE LIDDLE Project development supported by Project development of In Our Own Right: Black Australian Nurses’ Storieswas funded by the Australian Government Office for the Status of Women (under the Women’s Development Programme project grants 2003–04) Developed by Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN) 14 Cassia Ave Banksia Beach, QLD 4507 Tel. 07 3410 7236 Fax 07 3410 7235 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.indiginet.com.au/catsin CATSIN supported by BUUMAL Records, ‘State of the Heart’: www.buumal.com Production and promotion by C Contemporary Nurse N (distributed as a supplement to Volume 19, Issue 1–2, 2005) First published 2005 by Goshawk Publishing Published in 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data In Our Own Right: Black Australian Nurses’ Stories ISBN 0 9757422 2 1. 1. Nurses – Australia – Biography. 2. Women, Aboriginal Australian – Biography. 3. Women, Aboriginal Australian – Employment. 4. Minorities in nursing – Australia. I. Goold, Sally. II. Liddle, Kerrynne. 610.73092 ISBN 13: 9780975742228 (hbk) FOREWORD TT he intimate,private,and heart wrenching stories told in this book,the first of its kind to be published in Australia,will penetrate the hearts and souls of even the most hardened reader.Told with incredible dignity and humility,each of the individual and deeply personal stories recounted in this book stands as a powerful testimony to the gross inhumanity and brutal capacity of white people in Aus- tralia selectively to destroy and humiliate,without remorse,the lives and souls of their fellow black Australians.Each of the stories told in this book exposes the nasty and dehumanising effects of racism even in ‘caring’environments.What is particularly confronting about this exposé is that individual nurses,and the nursing profession as a whole,were complicit in this racism and its soul-destroying consequences to Indigenous nurses – whose stories are only now being told,for the first time,decades after the experiences related occurred. This book provides a powerful catalyst for questioning and calling into question the taken-for-granted humanity of us all.When it is considered that the nurses depicted in this book had ‘done nothing’ other than be of a different colour and culture,bewildering questions arise as to why it was necessary for their white counterparts to treat them so cruelly? Also bewildering is that,in a social con- text which claimed to be ‘egalitarian’,how it was possible for the cruel and dehumanising manner in which these nurses were treated to be ‘justified’in the name of charity, benevolence and the ‘social good’? Enslavement,cruelty and dehumanisation has only ever privileged those who have the power to impose their will and value systems onto others; the cases of Indigenous nurses presented in this book serve to underscore this point. The experiences described in this book also recount acts of human sensitivity. Without the few ‘good’ human beings who supported them, the lives and aspirations of each of the Indigenous nurses,reflected in this book as ‘colonised outsiders’,would perhaps have been different.They may have remained silent and unrecognised,as so many other lives have been,due to the destructive influ- ences of white Australian culture at the time they were trying to develop their nursing careers. The nurses’ courage, determination, resilience, persistence, dignity and ability,to achieve what they have – against all odds,so graphically presented in this book – makes my soul tremble and ask ‘how?’.How did they endure all the brutal indignities,violation and insults that they suffered? How did they remain focused? How did they come to achieve what they did within such a hostile and dismissive society? My answer to this question is that these individuals are what vi In our own right:Black Australian nurses’stories the ancient Greeks would call υπερανθρϖποζ ημιθεεζ, ημιθεοι(superhuman god-like persons) who are endowed with unique qualities – who know who they are, who know what they are worth and value, and whose identity cannot be taken away by any one or means. The courage and dignity of the individual nurses who have come forward to write their stories,has established a firm and profound basis upon which Indige- nous nurses today can stand proudly and with dignity,to create a brilliant affirm- ing future.This can be done without any obligation to anyone. The nursing profession in Australia has been called to action for many years now.The transcultural nursing movement, which began in the early 1970s, attempted to raise the consciousness of its members.At the centre of this movement were calls for changes to the health care system to make it more responsive to the needs of people from different cultures and who spoke different languages. This call required changes to take place in the minds, hearts and practices of nurses and other health care professionals.Just how effective this call has been,I will leave to individual nurses,nursing organisations and others to judge. The stories in this book demonstrate how humanity can operate at its worst and at its best.They show all of us that,when at its best,humanity can inspire, encourage and empower us;when at its worst,however,it can also demoralise, discourage and devastate us – both as individuals and as a people.The lessons are clear:we cannot and must not condone humanity at its worst,and the immoral acts that it seeks to justify.As the stories in this book remind us, so long as racism,discrimination and intolerance of difference govern our public service systems – and the minds,souls and hearts of people who comprise those systems – the nursing profession and society at large will remain impoverished,torment- ed and not at peace with itself or its humanity. As a colonised people, Indigenous Australians have a profound interest in reclaiming their self-determination.In respect of this interest,members of the nursing profession need to open their hearts and souls – and the doors to the systems they control – to welcome other voices,other views,and other ways of doing, perceiving and advancing the profession. This book shows us a way forward.Our task and responsibility now is to adopt and follow the path to the future that it has identified. By doing this – together and in partnership with Indigenous nurses and colleagues – the nursing profession too can move forward. Olga KanitsakiAM Professor of Transcultural Nursing RMIT University June 2005 CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Karen Atkinson 62 Mum and Dad’s fighting spirit Foreword v inspired me Olga Kanitsaki AM Barbara Browne 66 Preface viii I never forgot my dream Sally Goold OAM Roslyn Lockhart 71 Sadie Canning MBE 1 The power of education My story:The beginning,childhood, ambitions and achievements Kerrie Doyle 74 I have been a nurse for 30 years. Joan Winch 9 I love it! A vision for our people Vicki Bradford 78 Jilpia Jones 13 I would not trade it for quids The history of my nursing Sally Goold OAM(nee Bamblett) 82 MaryAnn Bin-Salik Keep your eyes on the prize! EDD (HARVARD) 23 Beyond expectations:From nursing Alecia McKowan 93 to academia Why I wish to become a nurse Ros Pierce 36 Gary Torrens (MRT) 96 Nursing: In my heart and in my blood A sense of understanding Faye Ryan (nee Clarke) 40 Ellie Gaffney 98 Something that helped others Determination to succeed Shane Mohor 43 Emily Marshall 103 A focus on men’s health My story of the red cloth Lowitja O’Donoghue AC,CBE 47 Noela Baigrie(nee Fogarty) 107 Racism often came from patients, The foundation for caring is respect not colleagues and dignity Janine Cox 56 Carmen Parter 111 Investigate our heritage Beyond nursing Sharon Dennis 58 Diana Ross 115 I made it;I am a nurse! The birthing tree PREFACE TT he Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN) was formed following the historic National Forum for Development of Strategies to Increase the Numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Nursing,held in August 1997 in Sydney.The forum was attended by 32 Indigenous registered nurses. During CATSIN’s inaugural meeting,those who attended shared their stories. One of the recommendations was to write a book of those stories and to have them published.We accounted for 0.5 per cent of the total registered nurse pop- ulation of Australia,so this was seen as important to increase recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses.Other recommendations and strategies were developed that flowed from that initiative. One was to honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses who had undertaken their nurse training in the early days – for us,during the 1940s and 1950s.Many were excluded from hospital-based training programs in various states because of their Aboriginality.Excluded from undertaking nurse training, they worked as assistant nurses and untrained carers.Such a rich source of information on the historical experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses should not be lost. Tribute is paid to the trailblazers who had the courage to challenge a system which has excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from undertaking nursing.They are role models and an inspiration to those considering undertaking nursing, student nurses and those registered nurses following in their footsteps.Those trailblazers,who endured many physical and emotional hard- ships,deserve to be shown recognition and respect. Knowledge of our Indigenous and colonial history will help to raise the pro- file of Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander nurses.It will certainly highlight our struggle to be recognised within the current dominant cultural group,and out- line our contribution to health care in this country. By collecting Indigenous nurses’stories and having them published in In Our Own Right:Black Australian Nurses’Stories,we give those people overdue recognition for their wonderful contribution to Indigenous health and to the nursing profession.Those trailblazers have acted and continue to act as role models.They are an inspiration to all women and men in health care who follow in their footsteps. Sally GooldOAM CATSIN,June 2005 Sadie Canning MBE My story: The beginning, childhood, ambitions and achievements “OOn 11 April 1930,I was born in the bush according to traditional Aboriginal custom,under a tree,on the outskirts of the mining town of Laverton in the north-eastern goldfields of Western Australia.Laverton is almost 300 kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie. There were no hospital births for Aboriginal mothers then.There was a curfew for Aborigines,which meant they were allowed in town only during the mornings.At midday,they were then rounded up and told to get out. At dusk,the police often whipped and chased them out. Our people feared the authorities.Part Aboriginal children,‘half-caste’ as we were known then, like myself, were always on the move with our parents to avoid being caught by police and government officials.They were always on the lookout to take ‘half-caste’children and send them off to the Moore River or Carrolup Native Settlements.These were the institutions Aboriginal people feared most,and for good reason.The government of Western Australia operated the settlements and those two were notoriously run institutions. Aborigines from the Kimberley through to the centre of Western Australia and across to Albany feared them.Hundreds of ‘half-caste’Aborigi- nal children were caught and sent there to serve life sentences for being ‘half-castes’.My cousins were sent to Moore River. They escaped and tried to make the long journey home on foot. Fortunately for me,I was never sent there. I was put into the Mt Margaret Mission run by the United Aborigines Mission from Melbourne.Mt Margaret was only 40 kilome- Me, enjoying tres south-west of where I the company of friends was born – LUCKY ME!