I have been here in Northam for 54 years and before that I grew up in Shackelton which is in between Quairading and Bruce Rock. I came when I was 12.
My great grandfather was actually Sikh. He was one of three brothers who were prominent in India but one of them went missing and the family didn't know where he'd gone. In fact he brought camels over to the deserts up near the Kimberley and there met my great grandma and fell in love.
I have twenty six grandies and I have lost count of the grandkids. Two of my grandsons are playing in the AFL at the moment, one for Greater Western Sydney and the other Richmond.
My mum and dad had a family of eighteen with nine boys and nine girls. I was fifth youngest. The brothers adored their sisters. I lost four brothers in four year, of prostate cancer, two of Alzheimer's and one in a car accident. Sometime I need to take a step back and look at the outer circle and so do the younger generation. I have been pushing my two daughters to take my place in the family.
My dad was born here in 1912. His mum and his dad had come down for a big corroboree and grandma was ready to give birth. There was no where to go because they weren't allowed to have babies in the hospitals in those days. So she gave birth on the side of the Mortlock river. I go and sit there all the time. My dad was number twelve of twelve children. He died in Northam we buried him in Northam.
My grandma died in Brookton, she was escaping from men taking children of the stolen generation, brothers and sisters, and the horse bolted and she fell of - she was 56 when she died.
I've seen so many changes for the better especially where it concerns Aboriginal people anyway. Around about the 1950s - Aboriginal people weren't allowed in the streets after six o'clock. They were arrested and thrown in jail if they were out. That didn't work well for those working on farms because they would get dropped off in town after six and be thrown in jail. Aboriginal people weren't even allowed to go into cafés to eat and have a meal.
It happened to me and still today I can't get over it. Where I grew up, we were the only aboriginal people in the town and everyone treated us the same but when we came to Northam I got a job working for this lady and she said 'Kathy I am shouting you lunch today' so we decided to go to Lucy's café, not the one where it is now but further down the street. I was 15. We ordered lunch, sat down, eyes were just staring at me. I was wondering what was going on. Anyway, it wasn't until we got our meals that I realised that Alma had hers served in a china cup and china plate and I got mine on a paper plate and a plastic cup. It still kills me today to think about it. We both just got up and walked out, she cried all the way home. I said 'Alma don't cry it's okay'; this is my first episode with racism, not knowing at the time what it was. Then she had to explain that it was because I was Aboriginal that they did that to you.
So I've been fighting for my people for the last 51 years. It took somebody like Charles Perkins, a civil rights activist over in Melbourne and all those places to give Aboriginal people a chance to do things.
When I was 17 I was offered a training job to be become a nurse. I took it. I went to Perth and did 2 years down there. Then I came home one weekend, met this boy, fell pregnant and that was the end of that. I went back in 2005 and completed my nursing. I had five children, two boys and three girls and they are the most beautiful children in the world. Then they gave me beautiful grandkids and now beautiful great grandkids.
I did a six week clinical placement in Northam, Princess Margaret, Charlie Gardner and Shenton park rehab centre. I was there for a year and half. All I wanted was to learn about the medication but because of the damage to my eye through domestic violence I got to the stage that I couldn't read the medication charts anymore so I thought I should put my patients first and resigned. I really love being a nurse and missed it but when the grandies came along - it all made up for it.
One reason that makes me want to help people is explained by this story: - I was doing my clinical practice at Charlie Gardners in Perth on level 4 when I got a call from level 6. " Kathy you need to get up here quickly" and I thinking okay what's wrong. I go up there and this old lady from a remote community had been transferred down by Flying Doctor and she couldn't speak English and cried when she saw the nurses' white faces. So, we I went there you should have seen her face! It lit up. And as for her language, I couldn't understand what she was saying but I said to the girls" you need and interpreter because I can't speak her language" and they said "but you are all the same." I said "no, no, no, we are not the same, I am a Noongar woman". She died but all she wanted to see was a black face and she went peacefully. The white faces had scared her.
I retired two years ago but now I am in committees all over Northam. I am with the Maali Northam Aboriginal Circle of Elders. I am just a person where somebody wants something done they ring me, you know no matter what it is. Because if it is relevant to my people I will get it done. That is why I fight tooth and nail for my people because I am not going to be here forever but I want them, my kids, my grandkids and great grandkids to have a better life. Northam has changed for the better - I can even walk into a shop where no one looks at me twice. Northam is just magic.
I go back to Shackleton once a year for camping; it's my connection to country. If I am feeling crook in anyway ill just get in my car or the girls will take me and I sit on a rock, sit in the street. There is nothing physical there but the spirit of my grandma. She lived till ninety-four, she used to walk us to school every day you. She said to me one day 'Kathy you're going to grow up and be bigger and better' and I said 'okay but I'll always remember you'. I had a magical growing up, I used to play in the creeks. Weekends we were never home we used to pack our lunch and go bush walking. There were lakes and duck eggs, ducks and goannas, gums off the trees and mud pies. There was a salt lake and we used to come home white from the salt. It was magic. I really had a beautiful childhood and I made sure my kids did too. I think technology is the biggest problem of today for children.
The best moment of my life so far would have been having my children. For their future - I stand up and fight for my people. Life is good... life is brilliant. Now I want to be an advocate for domestic violence and racism. I want to be an advocate that goes around and talks about it because until that happens, I can't get rid of these feelings and I can't help anyone else.
My advice would be - always think positive in life, there are obstacles that you are going to confront everyday in life, jump over them and on the other side of that is a life that you will cherish forever. Don't look back don't dwell on the past because it will always be there. Remember that you are who you are because of what you want in life. Enjoy life because you only get one chance.
Human - Kathy Davis
Interviewer & photographer - Anna Cornish
