Link-Up (Qld) client Ngarla Myers gave the following speech at Link-Up (Qld)’s National Apology anniversary event in 2017.
Listen:
Transcript (auto-generated):
Ngarla Myers: My name is Ngarla and my mob is from Far North Queensland. I was adopted when I was a baby by a loving family who have grown me today—my mum and dad and one of my sisters. I had the best life as a child growing up, but I didn’t have that sense of belonging to my family until a few years ago when someone suggested that I go to Link-Up (Qld), go through Link-Up (Qld) and try and find out where I came from and about my birth family.
I’m married now with five boys who are all here today and they also needed to know where they came from. It wasn’t the easiest thing to go through, but thanks to my counsellor Aunty Margaret and all the team at Link-Up (Qld), she was able to connect with them and find them for me and make this dream happen. I’ve only just been recently reunited with them in 2015.
My birth mother sadly passed away before I got the chance to meet her, hear her, see her, hear her voice. But I still have plenty of family up there that I’d like to meet. Her oldest brother is still alive and living with my eldest sister, and he has filled me in on a lot of stuff that I’ve missed out on. They didn’t know that I existed, so they were just as shocked to find out that they had another sister. And since then I found out that I’ve got three older brothers and two older sisters. So I went from being the oldest in my family to now the youngest.
Since going through Link-Up (Qld), I was able to go back to my place of birth, Cooktown, for the reunion. My family up there were really nervous and anxious and excited, as was I. We all didn’t know what to expect.
The day of the reunion, however, was pretty surreal. I was an absolute nervous wreck. I didn’t want to go out of the motel door, but I got kicked out pretty much. When we went to the hall to meet everybody, I couldn’t sit still for five minutes. I just wanted to run away, but I didn’t. And then my older sister walked in the door and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was an instant connection, one that I’ll never forget.
I really can’t explain how it was, but trust me when I say you just had to be there to see it. Russ was crying, I was crying. It was just the most unbelievable feeling. My sister actually came down last year for the first time on a plane in over 50 years. She came down for a holiday to meet all the rest of her family, meet Russell, meet all my boys. She didn’t want to go home. We keep in touch all the time—on the phone, we ring each other, we send each other photos. We are planning to go up there in July, take all the family up there to meet everybody.
Meet Uncle Herb, who’s now 73. He’s going to take the boys out to bush, make them spears, show them some traditional stuff that they’ve never seen. Sorry.
This is my Dad, and I’d like him to say something too.
Ngarla’s Father: Well it’s certainly been a long journey for Ngarla since she came to us in 1972. She really took off once she had her family of five boys, and I think that was the real incentive to her find out more about her past. People were so lucky up here with Link-Up (Qld) and the way they researched for her. But not only that—the compassion and the understanding they showed, not only to Ngarla but obviously to her family up at Laura—it’s really to be commended. It’s certainly a really, really great organisation you’ve got here, and thanks for what you’ve done for Ngarla.
Ngarla Myers: Thank you for inviting me today.
Published February 2017.