Lowanna Moore (Wamba Wamba)
For me self-determination is about empowering us as a people to self determine and make decisions that best impacts on the health and wellbeing of our people.
NAIDOC to me is a time that we come together as a people to celebrate our achievements and showcase our culture. This year’s NAIDOC theme “because of her we can” is so fitting in recognising the strong Aboriginal women in our community.
My name is Lowana Moore and I’m a 47 year old proud Wamba Wamba woman. When I think of this year’s NAIDOC theme “because of her we can,” I immediately think of my Grandmother Louisa Moore nee Kirby, and my mother Louise Moore, and it is because of the values that these 2 strong Aboriginal women instilled in me, I can!
I have a lot of wonderful childhood memories. Mum moved from Swan Hill when I was very young, and I remember my Grandmother would often send my Uncle to Melbourne to pick me up and take me back home and Mum would have to eventually come down and take me back to Melbourne, because my Nan would refuse to send me back. Nan loved having all her Grandchildren with her under one roof. I loved being on country, being with my Grandmother, my Aunties and growing up with my cousins. A strong Christian woman whose faith in God was so strong, that every Sunday Nan would go to church and we would go to Sunday school at Aunty Laura Kirby’s house and my Aunty Linda Fenton nee Moore was her assistant.
I remember 2 young American Mormons coming around to Nan’s house one day and Nan was always up for talking Christianity, from that very first visit they were knocking on her door every week, they loved Nan so much that they were coming around twice a week and would take all us kids out for the afternoon to do lots of activities from playing cricket to swimming in the river. Before we went to bed Nan would get my younger Aunties to make sure that we all knelt beside our beds and said our prayers before we jumped into bed and she always read a psalm from her Bible before she went to sleep. Nan loved painting, she loved to paint landscapes, sometimes I would watch her paint at night with just her candle lit, she loved painting by candlelight and yarning at the same time.
I was 9 years old when my Grandmother died in 1980, she was only 52 years old. Nan was the glue to our family, our protector. Family and Christianity is what drove my Nan, a strong Yita Yita woman on her Dad’s side, Nan married my Grandfather at the tender age of 16, they had 15 children. Needless to say, her passing had devastating effects on our family and her loss is still felt today.
I would often hear my Mum and my older Aunties talk about how at the age of 11 they would live out at farm houses just up the road from each other in Nyah and Worineen to help bring money back into the family. Mum moved to Melbourne when she was just 17 years old, she had cousins living in Melbourne already so she had Nan’s blessing to move to Melbourne and get a job.
I was 11 years old when Mum moved to Melton, a single Mum with 3 children, Mum worked in the CBD. She would leave for work just before we got up for school and wouldn’t get home until tea time. So, it was up to me being the eldest to help Mum out, to get my younger sisters to school, do the household choirs and get tea on the table. As a single Mum, Mum always worked hard, she provided well for us and we never went without. She would often sit and talk to us about what we wanted to be when we grew up, I loved those conversations. She would always say that if we worked hard in getting a good education, we could get a good job, own our own home and travel the world. She always dreamt big for us.
I left school when I was 14 years old, school wasn’t a great place for me, as in my secondary years I was always the only Aboriginal student, so you could just imagine what it was like back then. I went on work experience at Target and was offered an ongoing job, though it was just hanging clothes in the warehouse at the time I told myself I could be whatever I wanted to be, so I set myself goals. And always I wanted to make my Grandmother proud of me, even though she wasn’t with us anymore, I knew that she was watching down on me, it was because of her and my mother that drove me to be who I am today, and they continue to drive what I do.
Today I’m employed at the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc (VAEAI) where I have been employed for the last 20 plus years. I love doing what I do, advocating on behalf of our community on what’s needed in education, and being able to influence change through strategy and policy development.
I also work hard in connecting to my little cousins who are part of the OOHC system, taking them back home to connect with our family and country. I first began this journey a few years ago when my Uncle passed, and they had brought in 4 of his 5 children to say goodbye to their Dad. This was the first time I had met my Uncle’s children. Seeing their faces really impacted me, they were growing up not knowing their family and where they come from. Every child needs to know who they are and where they come from in order to be strong in their identity. It was through this journey that myself and another cousin learnt that we had over 45 cousins in care, not only in Victoria but across 4 other States.
Every year we organise for our cousins to come together at the same time to spend time together getting to know family and connecting to culture on country. Bringing our little cousins back home to country has been a huge healing process, not only for my little cousins but for our family as a whole. The first year that we brought them back to country was amazing, it was such an emotional day on the river, my Aunties were crying, I was crying, I stood back taking it all in, and thinking of my Nan and just how proud she would be, proud that her grand children, great and great great grandchildren were returning home to their family and country.
I want my little cousins to have the same wonderful childhood memories that I had with family growing up on country. And to know that they are very much loved and are not alone on their journey. And if ever they feel down and out in their adulthood that they feel connected enough to know that they can return home to heal.
Organising the Return to Country trips for our little cousins is a lot of hard work, especially when you’re trying to understand and navigate the system. But the rewards come when you see the smiles on their little faces, watching them play and hearing them scream “there’s our other cousins.” It gets me very emotional every time, reminding me of when I used to come home to country to see my family.
I want for young Aboriginal women to be the best that they can be, to be strong and proud of who they are, and to never give up on achieving their hopes and dreams. Think about the strong Aboriginal women that have impacted their lives and recognise that “because of her I can!”
Women are the backbone of our families. It’s because of my Nan, my Mum and my Aunties, I can!