National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week provides us with an opportunity to focus on acceptance and togetherness. In doing so I would like to share a moment with you that forever influenced my values and my thinking.

As a bright eyed teenage city slicker I had decided to shape shift from urban adventurer and make my way to the rugged ranges and dramatic gorges of the far north of Western Australia, Broome. The truth was I was escaping the urban sprawl to find a path of acceptance as I was looking to find comfort within my own skin.

You see, I had been struggling with being accepted as a loud and proud GAY man. This was going to be my Mariel (Muriel) moment. Goodbye Porpoise Spit, Hello Broome!

The day I arrived in Broome I remember being transported to the University campus I was to call home. Upon arrival I was expecting to be greeted by the campus administrator but upon checking my phone they had broken down and weren’t expecting to arrive back at the University till later that night. With suitcase in hand I made my way to the shade of a rather peculiar looking Boab tree. No more than 5 minutes passed and I heard the creaking of a screen door slam followed by an inquisitive ‘Hi are you looking for Jenny’. An indigenous woman by the name of Katherine quickly introduced herself and invited me into her room for a cool drink and a chat. We quickly built rapport and Kathy invited me and some of her friends to head down to the stairway to the moon, a local phenomenon where the mud flats beyond the mangroves meet the rising of the moon. The kindness of a stranger had lit my spirit and away we went. Kathy lived in a community not far from the banks of the Fitzroy River and was intermittently making her way down to Broome to complete a business administration course at the University. Each time Kathy visited the campus she would actively seek me out to check in on how I was going and to introduce me to anyone I hadn’t yet met. We had a human connection.

We stayed in touch for some time after I left Broome. I vividly remember Kathy saying that she couldn’t believe that a young blonde haired boy from the city would become friends with an 'old aboriginal lady like me'. That comment made me feel uncomfortable but what Kathy didn’t know was that her unconditional love an acceptance gave me a new found confidence and sense of self.

From the first moment we met, I found the acceptance I had long been longing for and looking back now I think Kathy did too.

Josh