Where the Country Calls Me Home

My full name is Dianne Stokes. I'm a local, I'm a traditional owner, and where I live is right in the boundary of my totem. I've been here for twenty-four years now. Almost twenty-four.

When I first moved in, the only shelter I had was my car. My little car. That was it. Nothing else was here. Just the grass and the trees and the lizards and the insects. Everything else. I felt good being here, but I felt scared too. Scared because of the rain, the wind, the heat. I'd go sit under them big trees down there just to get some shade.

But This country. What does it mean to me? It means something that really makes me happy. Every time I go away from here, it's like it's calling me. Come back home. And I do feel that. When I get home, I feel happy I'm at home.

This land went through this town from my father, and it carries on from fathers to fathers. That's why I came to reside here. Because I wanted to stay where it's close enough for me to be in town for shopping and work, and for the kids to go to school. Before this, I was living out in a community on my grandfather's country, my mum's country. All my family had passed away, so I wanted to go back and liven up the place with my families. But I kept wanting to come back here. When I come back here, I know I've got no one to tell me what to do. It's my home. And I got it registered last year. The place is registered now.

In the back corner of my boundary, I want to have a cultural area. A cultural centre and a youth centre. That's what I'm planning to do. Where I can have daytime kids coming to do their homework if they're not going to school. The kids who are in trouble with the police, who have them devices on their legs sometimes and are not going to school. They need somewhere to go.

I want a building where kids can do cultural works. Like making bush medicines and doing weaving. And at the same time having a game of soccer or something. Both ways. Having the cultural side in white society and Indigenous society where they can work both ways. Teach some of the kids who don't speak English, teach them in English and in language.

I grew up in language. I never spoke English in kindergarten. When me and my older sister started going to school, the other kids used to come and talk in language before we spoke English, and tell us what to say.

Then boarding school. Going away from home. Four years going to school, but coming back only for holidays. It wasn't enough. Not enough time for us to be with families. Just a couple of weeks or three weeks, then go back again. It was a very hard time for us, but going back, still talking language to our families.

Now I want to show people what this place was. I've got some people who were here at the beginning taking photos of the space, and I could get all those photos and put them up somewhere. A little museum for people to come and have a look. What it was like before, and then what it is now. From the past to this.

If you have an idea about going somewhere to help, go talk to the elders first. Sit down and talk to them. They need to hear from the ground. Who wants it, who's going to do it, who's out there, who needs help.

That's what I'm looking forward to. Someone with the money to help me out to do this stuff. That's what I'm looking forward for.