Madge Kearney

Thank you very much Sarah, that was wonderful. It was great. Our next guest is Betty Little, and Betty tells me she is very proud to say that she is Jimmy Little’s sister. In fact, the whole family are a musical family, and Betty has sang one of her own compositions at the Sea of Hands in Canberra recently. And we welcome Betty Little.

Betty Little

I’m also better looking than him. Don’t tell him that though, please. I was invited to a Linkup dinner back in Wollongong in ‘88, and my best friend Linda Brady and I, we sat down and thought we’d try and get some words together, about how the stolen babies and the children, and the many adults that are -- you know if you have damaged children, you will have damaged parents, and that’s what a lot of our past generations have been like. And so this song is called Reach for Me, and I’d like to sing this one for you.
 

Reach for me, and I’ll reach for you,
my arms are ready and waiting,
anticipating the time when I might see you,
who am I, who are my ancestors?
have I got any brothers or sisters
and I want to know who I look like
oh but I, I just can’t find you
and I need some help to find my way

I’m like a child groping in the dark
hoping to see sunlight or just a little spark
when I was born I was taken away
from my parents arms, they had no say
and I miss, I miss their arms and their sweet smiles
and I missed, what I missed out on as a child

To all my people all over Australia, to everyone who’s been taken away from their families and their communities, and especially to all my people who have not found their families yet, this song is being sung specially to remember them.

Reach for me, and I’ll reach for you,
my arms are ready and waiting,
anticipating the time when I might see you,
who am I, who are my ancestors?
and have I got any brothers or sisters
and I want to know who I look like
oh but I, I just can’t find you
and I need, I need some help to find my way.

For ten years of my life I spent running around, singing in pubs and clubs - I’m a non-drinker and a non-smoker - and it was just dreadful, I don’t know why I did it. I just feel quite sick, to think that I wasted ten years singing around in the pubs, only to have many songs that were sung, many songs I’ve heard, put women down. And I was always -- it was ok for me to be loved as a country music performer, but not as an Aboriginal country music performer. And I got sick and tired of the invisibility that I’ve had to live with all my life, as not an Aborigine, then not as a woman, and I just got fed up with this. So I got out of the country music scene, and I now write songs for women and Aboriginal issues, and I go around singing them wherever I can, as an educational thing. And I also do cultural awareness presentations all over the place. I take my guitar, I finish a lot of my sessions off with a song, because I believe music is a way of healing. And I feel like it settles the angry ones down, and it lifts me up, so it’s quite good to have that music there. And I’m often referred to as the singing lecturer. And I think that I’ve got a lot of love and respect for songwriters, and people that put their feelings down on paper.

And this song -- I was at an indigenous womens’ conference in ‘88, and there was an Aboriginal woman who was humming and singing words about -- this song I’m about to do for you now. And I said “oh look, I’d love to learn that, I’d love to be able to take that around, and share it around to a lot of people”. And it’s singing about the Protection Board, that we heard a bit about earlier. And this is how it goes:
 

In the days when our land and our people were free
we lived in a spirit of dignity
teaching our children the ways to be free
and we never needed protection

When white fellas came from over the seas
teachers, officials and missionaries
they herded us on to reserves and agreed
oh yes, this was for all of our protection

Now they set up a Board with a policy
to bring up our children as white as can be
but stealing them first from their black families
yes all in the name of protection

They appointed inspectors with powers to be
protector of every Aborigine
guardians of those who were no longer free
all in the name of protection

Gone are our children to missionaries
gone is our spirit of dignity
gone is our land and we’re no longer free
oh such were the powers of protection

Aunty Nell -- can you hear me darl? We have a -- have my aunty Nell over there. I’m gonna do a song for you now, and then it’s for all other Aboriginal women, and then all the women here, and all the women of the world. I was invited as a guest singer to the International Womens’ Day in Sydney, a few years back, and I wrote this song. It’s called I come from a line of Koori Women, if you’re not familiar with the word Koori, it means Aboriginal, and so that’s what I’m singing about, my mum, my nan, and my --

I come from a line of strong Koori women
women like my mother, my aunts and my nan
they were my role models and they played them well for me
and I’m so proud to be part of my family

I have a little daughter she’s just turned 17
and one day on this very stage she will stand with me and sing
about her role models like her mother, her aunts and her nan
and she will grow up to be, a strong Koori woman

oh yes we come from a line of strong Koori women
women like my mother, my aunts and my nan
they were our role models and they played them well for me
and we’re so proud to be part of our families

Now back in the year of 1939, a big protest took place
because of the government cruelty that was done to my Koori race
this happened at cummerangje, the mission where I was born
this happened in cummerangje, this is where my mother’s from

Yes I come from a line of strong Koori women
women like my mother, my aunts and my nan
they were my role models and they played them well for me
and I’m so proud to be part of my family

Now for all you women, and all the women of the world

So to you out there my sisters
there are role models for you
Now if you were to look among your families
you will find strong women there too
Oh, but let’s live our lives
so others will follow on
‘Cause all this world over
there are women oh so strong
thank you

Sally Waterford
Thank you Betty. Betty’s from the Yorta Yorta people.