Wandering Girl (17 page)

So we prepared for the visit. When he arrived, Kaylene stepped outside to greet him. I was back in the kitchen, making a cup of tea, as they came in the front door.

Kaylene sang out to me, “Come and say hello to Father!” I went through to the lounge nervously and saw Father holding out his hand. I trembled as I shook it, and murmured, “Hello, Father..” Kaylene said she'd leave us alone, as Father wanted to sort things out with me.

As Father went on to tell me that it was not good for a young girl like me to be out of work too long, I felt uneasy. He said that if I didn't find a job in three weeks' time, he was coming to get me and take me back to the mission. I could work there, till he found me a proper position. My heart sank. I dreaded the thought of working on another farm.

Kaylene knocked on the door and came in with the tea and sandwiches. I started to relax and join in the conversation. After spending the day with us, he left, saying he would keep in touch. Kaylene was to let him know if I did get a job. So we said goodbye to Father.

The following week, Kaylene drove me into Busselton Hospital to try to get an interview. I was feeling nervous and she took me by the hand. The smell of Dettol hit us straight away. We asked a nurse, “Which way to the office?” She told us to follow her, down the long corridor. We passed a few wards. Then we were at the office.

Kaylene knocked again and a firm voice answered inside, “Come in!” I followed her to where this sophisticated man was sitting behind his desk. He looked up at us, smiled, and we smiled back. “What can I do for you?” Kaylene introduced both of us and explained the situation, how I was wanting a job.

He said he couldn't help me for the time being, as he had about fifty women on his waiting list, but he could take my name and if anything came up he would let me know. So we thanked this pleasant gentleman with a plump round face and left, feeling dispirited.

Two weeks after the job interview, I was getting desperate. It was a Sunday and we were having dinner. There was knocking at the door. I went to open it, wondering who it was - could this be Father, coming for me?

I opened the door, and to my surprise, it was the man from the hospital. He told me to pack my bags and throw them in the hospital ute. He had put me in front of all those ladies! He had even paid two weeks' rent for me in a boarding house in the town, and I could pay him back when I got to know a few people and could find a place of my own.

We were thrilled, me and Kaylene - I was a little bit sad to leave her but she said not to worry. “I'll come and pick you up for days off.” So I said goodbye to Dunsborough for the present and we drove off.

There was no looking back for me.

EPILOGUE

I am happily married now.

To a very fine Gentleman.

His name is Charlie,

A hair-dresser by trade.

Who had the honour of being

The Governor's hair-dresser.

We are blessed with two beautiful

Children, a girl we named

Jodi Anne, who is ten years old,

And a boy we named

Brian-Ocean, who is eight years old.

I named him after my dead brother

Who I had only seen

Once in my life.

There'll be no washing other

Peoples' dishes, or

Getting dropped off at bus-stops

For any of my children.

We will be making sure that our

Kids will be given every opportunity

In their lives to get a good education,

So that they can take their places

In today's society as Lawyers or Doctors,

Or etc. - and be equal in the one human

Race!

Glenyse Ward was born in 1949 in Perth, Western Australia. When her mother took her to the doctor's when she was one year old, she was taken away by the Native Welfare as her mother was deemed to be unfit. She was first put into an orphanage in Rivervale, Perth, until she was three, then she was taken to St Francis Xavier Native Mission at Wandering Brook, eighty miles from Perth.

She was given elementary schooling, then was made a working girl scrubbing pots and pans until she was fifteen or sixteen when she was sent to do the same work outside the Mission.

Having run away from her white employers, she worked as a domestic in the kitchen of the Busselton Hospital. She then went to Perth and worked as a nursing assistant in a number of hospitals then joined the Community Health Service.

She met Charles Ward, who was the private barber for the Governor of Western Australia. They were married in 1975 and have two children. They now live in Broome where Charlie runs a barber shop and Glenyse continues to write. Her books have been published in the U.K. and the U.S.A.

also by Glenyse Ward

UNNA YOU FULLAS

In her first book,
Wandering Girl
, Glenyse Ward told of her personal quest as a young Aboriginal woman – uprooted from mission life and sent to work as a white fulla's domestic. In
Unna You Fullas
, Sprattie takes the road back to Wandering. With poignant humour, she relives the regimented days and mischievous nights of mission kids, driven by their longing for family and home.

The book is about Aboriginal children looking out for each other as they struggle to conform to the Good Christian Way. It captures their laughter, their tears, their wisdom and the pranks that helped them survive the clash of culture, religion and personality.