While NAIDOC Week has come to a close, one Riddells Creek resident has used the time to reflect on Indigenous heritage and how his life has been shaped by Australia’s past.
Allity Riddell Gardens aged care resident Steve Parsons said being Indigenous became part of his identity later in life, after his mother passed away in the 1990s.
“My two older sisters knew that we had indigenous heritage but my older brother, younger sister and I weren’t really ever told,” Mr Parsons said.
“I’m not sure why, but that’s just how it was… I always had a bit of an idea, but it wasn’t until mum passed away when I was in my 40s that we were officially told.
“Mum never touched on anything at all and we never lived that life.”
Mr Parsons said his family started to look into their mother’s history as an Indigenous woman and they found out that she was a part of the stolen generations.
“My mum grew up in Barrow Creek in the Northern Territory and from there she went into an orphanage in Adelaide,” he said.
“For me, it wasn’t until I worked on the wharf in Port Hedland at Western Australia in my 20s that I started to realise I had something in me.
“[This was] because of how similar the colour of my skin was to the Indigenous fellows I worked with.”
Mr Parsons said he was able to learn more about his family history after his sister connected with their extended family.
“One of my sisters ended up working in Alice Springs within the community and found a lot out about our family.
“She found different relations that we never realised we had from mum’s side.”
Zoe Moffatt
