Prepared speech by Jan Nicoll, Winner Women of the West Awards for 2009
UWS International Women’s Day Celebration
Friday 13 March 2009
If I could be there with all of you great empowered ‘Women of the West’, I guess I would start with saying something like, ‘FAR OUT’ or ‘You’ve got to be joking’.
Professor Reid, distinguished guests, visitors, all those involved in this prestigious Award, family, and friends, welcome, and the warmest appreciation to everyone for your support, hard work, vision, and commitment given to this Award.
Thank you, fellow nominees, we all share and reap the rewards in our daily lives in whatever field we work. We all know that Awards such as these provide opportunities that drive us all relentlessly onward to ensure that those most in need can know in full measure, respite from the hardships that at times, thrown their way.
To be the recipient of such an honourable Award is for me and my family, and also our community, Macquarie Fields, a gift of tremendous proportions. A power will come over us with this Award that will forever change lives. It will help cut through societal restraints and assist in the restoration of families. This gift cannot be measured in words, but all of us here know what it will look like. We are going to see miracles, lots of miracles.
Post Public Disturbance 2005 in Macquarie Fields, Father Chris Riley was our miracle. He brought in compassion with a BBQ, a couple of basketballs, now and then a horse, and always, with his beloved companions, his dogs. Father’s profile in Macquarie Fields allowed us to lift our heads high and proud, because despite the media marginalising us worldwide, Father found us worthy of his time, passion, and friendship.
None of us being honoured here tonight has arrived at this place by ourselves. Challenges and joys have brought myself and Father together often and I know that he has played a significant role in my receiving this Award. I guess this will translate into even more volunteer hours for Youth Off The Streets,hmmm. Father’s work in Macquarie Fields is a testament of what the power of Faith with responsive support, can do. Father has taught us well to ‘never give up the fight’. With this Award, I will fearlessly defend the rights of others wherever necessary, so I guess in many ways this Award confirms for me, and for whoever is brave enough to ‘hang’ with me, that the fight has just begun.
When Danielle rang notifying me of the nomination, the absolute surprise that someone out there had nominated me was difficult to grasp. It was much later on that I discovered that many had delightedly plotted together enjoying the fact that ‘I don’t know everything all the time’. It is, though, a pretty humbling experience. I mean, Chris Hayes MP nominating me … that is c-r-a-z-y stuff.
I first met Chris and his staff through a ‘Sorry Day’ function in Macquarie Fields only last year. He’s been following me about ever since. Chris was the first politician to ever step a foot inside Allawah House Refuge the entire 15 years I have been here. He has become our shining light, our beacon. The trust and acceptance of the young women when he visits, is priceless to see.
Last month, 6 State and Federal Ministers visited Allawah. The following week we participated in the Community Cabinet that has resulted in meeting with the relevant Ministers in the near future to address the high number of children removed from their families into the Director General’s care. Chris has somehow gained insight into what I do that has resulted in me receiving this Award. I will honour his and his staff’s faith in me by using this Award wisely, with pride, with an abundance of integrity and with joy.
We all experience the reality of never enough services available compared to meeting the needs, and this Award will seriously help lessen that gap. We share a connectedness with Chris and his office now, that I know will flow on through with this Award and all that it implies. How powerful is that, what an amazing privilege you have graciously provided that will benefit many, Chris. Sincerely, my heart felt gratitude for all that you inspire in your capacity as Federal Member for Werriwa - thank you.
I was planning my course of attack of what the nomination will mean in terms of outcomes, when Michelle phoned to notify me of the win. ‘Stunned mullet’ are the best words to describe my reaction. The overwhelming disbelief takes a bit of time to sink in. I like to think I am of reasonable intellect, but I really thought, ‘gee, how very courteous of Michelle to ring to congratulate my nomination’. HELLO! I was so overwhelmed when Michelle actually said, ‘congratulations’, that two things instantly hit my psyche. As only ‘we women’ know, we can multitask 10 things in 2 seconds flat. I thought, ‘Oh ….’, and, ‘now I’m really going to be putting the pedal to the metal’. Not that I don’t already, but I can see ‘manic’ behaviour becoming the norm. See guys, we’re all the same!
Moments later, in absolute contrast, I felt the pride of my husband Gary wash over me, and the tears came. He passed 6 years ago. I assume Michelle recalls that conversation well also. We met when I was 15 and married when I was 17. We moved to Sydney in 1977, this is home.
My husband sacrificed a great deal to ensure I attained my Degree whilst we were both juggling medical issues and raising a family. Racing into uni to put assignments in the lecturer’s box before security locked up at 11pm, my husband would say, ‘these are the fruits of your labour, luv’. He so strongly advocated that with an education, all things are possible.
Every single one of us here in this room knows that none of us break down barriers, or need to watch the clock when providing comfort, or graduate following years of study, without the loyalty of all those that uplift us and love us so that we can get over the finishing line and win the race that will enable us to move mighty mountains for the betterment of the whole human race. That is why all of us are here tonight. We do advocate for those that have no voice or been respectfully heard. That is the way of things pertaining to us mere mortals.
The enormity of what this Award will mean in opening doors, doors that I have been banging on for many years now, will now welcome us in and perhaps now, not rush to close so quickly behind us anymore.
This Award will enable many souls to experience knowing what every Australian has a right to know, ‘TO BE GIVEN A FAIR GO!’. To have a roof over their heads, have 3 feeds a day, and access to quality education. To be able to access good dental and healthcare. To care for their own children in their own homes, to be safe in their community, and to know a sense of wellbeing of body and spirit and know what ‘peace of heart’ feels like.
To assume everyone experiences these basic rights in Australia is not so. That is why I will ensure that this Award will be on everyone’s radar now. I will, bully everyone into learning about the ‘UWS Women of the West Award’. This Award will ensure that relevant offices will come to know the realisation that it is everyone’s responsibility to resource a community. They will come to understand that the social and recreational wellbeing of all young people is everyone’s responsibility, and in the most meaningful way, those in high places must learn with us, how to stop the inexplicable high number of children in NSW still being removed from their blood and kin and placed with strangers to be raised.
There is nothing more harming than removing children from their family. Provision of holistic structures need to apply to keep families together. It must be a priority. It is not an option, it is a fundamental right. These children that have no voice are not recyclable remnants of our society. This is a travesty beyond belief that I directly work with everyday. Just in my community alone are 9 families, 16 children in total are affected. Because some kept running away back home, the children were placed completely out of the area. How many more are out there? As a result, some of these mothers entered psychiatric institutions. Are visitation rights meant to satisfy the mothering in these women … I think not!
How can we as a society give comfort when work practices reflect complicity from the top down and are bereft of emotional resources? That is what this Award means to me. That is why I will be knocking ‘loudly’. Like us, if children are loved and supported and safe to grieve in a safe environment, as Macquarie Fields has done collectively (4 times in as many years), we can survive what seems, the unsurvivable.
‘Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing’.
I have 21 siblings. I am of Maori descent. I am a Mossie, a Maori Aussie! I come from a rich communal and cultural heritage. I know the blessing of deep family roots. However, as a very young child, I can still smell the smell of poverty, in which we lived. I can still feel the hollow ache of an empty stomach, and the shame of what we did to survive. I still remember how the heartbreak of a shattered spirit feels when I recognise it in others. I have learnt the importance of having pride in knowing who we are, where we come from, and where we belong. It is the dough that will hold us together as we all embrace life and all that it brings, warts and all.
But, it was learning the value of education as a mature aged student, and learning the power of what education can achieve for me as a mother, grandmother, role model and as an independent woman, that I could no longer NOT listen to the call of the bird: (whakarongo ake au kite tangi a te manu).
‘Listen to the call of ‘your’ bird through compassion, as you unselfishly tender to others giving hope, and have a love for all ‘Human Kind’. You will have ‘listened’, and you will have in turn, returned the call of the bird. These gifts of heart and knowledge cannot be found outside of ourselves, for they are within us.
This unique Award provides reassurance for all women to aspire to. I hold no title, have no professional calling card or office from which to work a 12 hour day, 5 sometimes 6 or a 7 day week. The community is my office. There is no funding attached to what is achieved, and I have just updated to a 1990 model car.
Now, every one of you here, including me, can now relate to my shock and disbelief when Michelle rang to congratulate me on the win. This confirms that every one of us can and do make a difference. We know this is not about prestige and exclusion. It is about Hope, Faith, Hard Work, and the sharing of tears and joys. It is about living in a way that no matter what you do or where life takes you, honour the empowering light of your womanhood without fear of judgement or censorship. Be proud, and as Father once gruffly advised me, ‘you need to be more loud Jan’,and I have been. I will be louder and continue and all I can continue to offer is an almighty passion to do what I can, because I can, and while I can, to the best of my ability.
In closing, my greatest appreciation and congratulations is to our fellow Nominees tonight. Together we strive, we hope for all things and we unite in Faith. We weave our journeys and walk into that most glorious tapestry of all, the tapestry of life. It is a joy and a privilege to weave that tapestry with each and every one of you. WE ARE ALL WINNERS and we must celebrate our efforts together and consider this, “Help thy brother’s boat across the stream and lo, thine own has reached the shore”. KIA KAHA everyone, means STAND STRONG.
Thank you,
Bless you all,
Jan