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A spirited journey - Talking with Louise Hamilton

We began by strolling around the grounds of the Alexandria Park Community Junior School as Louise Hamilton showed us an Aboriginal mural which had been painted on the fence more than 40 years before. As she stood in front of it for our photograph, I saw a strong spirited Aboriginal woman reports Dorothy McRae-McMahon in the South Sydney Herald of June 2009.

Louise was born in Narrandera. Her family were of mixed race origin but predominantly Aboriginal – part of the Wiradjuri people, the Cowra mob of the Darlington River area. They moved to Sydney early in her life when a racist boss refused to give her father time off to get critical medical care for her brother who had a serious ear condition. This incident prompted the family to move to Sydney where her mother worked three jobs in community and welfare services, so the family could survive. Her father’s first job in Sydney was at the Fairfax printing office.

They moved around a lot and Louise had to get used to constantly adjusting to new schools. Her favourite school was Summer Hill Public because she stayed long enough to make a group of good friends. This moving around was very unsettling for Louise, and as a result she was to experience rough times in her adolescent years. She left school at Year 8. She was a teenage mother of her son, Dallas, and a grandmother at the age of 33.

Like her mother, Louise did many different forms of work in the next years. She is proud of her mother, and believes that much of her strength for her own survival comes from there. Louise likes the saying: “You are your mother’s twin until you work out who you are.”

This working out took Louise down many different paths. She did a TAFE course in numeracy and literacy to educate herself to ensure a better future. She was beginning to prepare for the life she really wanted – one which might carry a message for herself, and others - that it’s possible to achieve your dreams even though times get hard.

She worked in the areas of domestic violence and homeless services before enrolling in a trainee enrolled nurse course with a view to joining the ambulance service later. Next she turned up at the Sydney University Koori Centre, convinced that she wanted to do a degree. But in what – maybe nursing or teaching? Two years went by – the timing wasn’t right.

Louise did eventually join the ambulance service as a trainee and worked in Lismore for several months but got homesick for friends and family. On her return to Sydney she struggled to find her true passion and carer path.

With the support of her partner, Louise did finally begin what was to be a six-year effort to get a degree in Primary School teaching, one which she will complete in October this year. She returned to nursing to support herself through her degree.

Despite having a clearer direction she still felt a yearning to search for a deeper understanding of her aboriginality. Then, one day she was in Newtown, feeling called to something more but she didn’t know what, when suddenly, an Aboriginal woman ahead of her in the queue in the bank turned round and said (in true Aboriginal fashion) “Hey Sis! How ya goin’? Where are ya from?” Louise replied, “Sydney, but Narrandera really.” The woman said, “So you’re a Wiradjuri woman too?” It turned out that her name was Cheryl and that she was part of the Biambal Indigenous Language Institute (BILBI) and taught the Wiradjuri language. She was looking for someone to pass the language to so BILBI could continue the teaching of Wiradjuri to kids in primary schools. There was only one day left to get an application in for the job that was going.

Louise did get the application in but was anxious about its success because she didn’t have any knowledge of the language. She was sitting thinking about this when she saw four black, red-tailed Cockatoos fly by and it was as though they were saying to her, “You are going to join a group of four”. She did the interview and a week later was told that she was, indeed, joining a group of four Wiradjuri-speaking people.

She is now teaching Wiradjuri at Darlington Public and Alexandra Park Community Schools and also contributes to community events with performance, song and language. Louise likes to tell her students about her search for her roots so they can learn to appreciate and understand their own family’s roots and history. As they do that, it helps form identities and understandings between different people.

Louise feels that there are many possibilities ahead. She will be looking for ways to initiate new projects, gain sponsorships and share with the community. Language, she feels, needs to be revitalised and honoured in its own right and also incorporated into the everyday language of all Australians so the Aboriginal culture becomes more visible. Louise loves it when she arrives at school and the kids yell, “Yamandhu marang mudji?” Which means, Are you well, friend? To which she replies, “Ngawa marang mudji mandanggu.” Yes, good friend, thanks. She imagines books being written, spiritual stories being told and translated into language resources to keep Aboriginal languages alive for many generations to come. This she realises will require funds and support and she is keen to talk to anyone who may also be interested in the importance of keeping Indigenous languages alive.

Undoubtedly, this Wiradjuri woman of spirit and hope has much more to add to her own life and to the lives of those she meets as she continues on her way!

Photo: Ali Blogg - Caption: Louise Hamilton in front of the 40-year-old Aboriginal mural at Alexandria Park Community School

Source: South Sydney Herald June 2009 www.southsydneyherald.com.au