Bill Simon’s Back on the Block

The band, Mirror Child, gave a moving entry into what followed, as they sang:

“When will someone listen to what we have to say?/ We were babies when we were taken away …/ You talk about moving forward,/ but first we must look behind.”

Therese Rein, who was launching the book, was introduced. She acknowledged the Indigenous owners of the land, and then began, with genuine emotion, to recall the day of the National Apology. The night before the Apology was stormy, as though the creation itself wept. The Prime Minister had invited the representatives of the Stolen Generations to meet him in the impressive courtyard outside his office. The gates swung open and two groups of Aboriginal people moved in very cautiously, pausing at intervals to look around. Kevin Rudd said, “Come in, you are welcome!”, and one by one they anxiously moved forward.

Ms Rein said, “Behind every person is a story”, and that Bill Simon’s story made “searing” reading. However, it was “a story which must be told so that we don’t forget”.

Bill Simon himself also found it hard to speak aloud his story. If we ever doubt that a serious wrong was done to non-Indigenous people, we might well watch their distress as they remember what happened to them decades after the damage was done. The terrible wounding and pain is still there. Bill told of the day he and his brothers, as little children, were taken away by representatives of the Aboriginal “Welfare” Board – how they cried and screamed as they looked back and saw their mother, not sure whether she had betrayed them or someone else. When the car carrying them stopped at Taree, his brother Lennie was taken out and carried away.

Bill was 10 years old at the time and he remembers asking, “Why? Why? Doesn’t our mother want us?” This question plagued him for the next 40 years. His father was accused of neglect, when the reality was that he was just away working. Of course, his mother was, in reality, devastated. They were a stable family with responsible parenting. However, these events meant they never really recovered.

He described life in the Kinchela Home as filled with abuse and bullying, punishment for nothing and deprivation of belongings and identity. His future was in the hands of strangers and, for eight years, he lost his name and became just a number – No. 33.

The turning point in his life came when he found a faith in a kindly God, which was healing for his life. He is now a Pastor on The Block. He looks at his life with sadness rather than bitterness and he writes his story because he believes that: “We can’t heal the nation unless we know the truth.”

Thanks and acknowledgements were given to the co-authors of the book, Jo Tuscano and Des Montgomerie, and a number of other people and organisations who had given support to the project. Mirror Child sang ‘Turning the Page’, and there was a real sense of celebration as people gathered around for the book-signing. Perhaps another step towards reconciliation had been taken.

Photo: Ali Blogg - Caption: Therese Rein autographs Bill Simon’s book

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