I am 74 years old and live in Beauty Point, Tasmania, near the mouth of kanamaluka (Tamar River), on the western side. I have been living here since March 2022, having moved from Richmond, Melbourne and, before that Palm Beach, just north of Sydney.

I am now “retired” after nearly 20 years as an Education Coordinator, Organiser and Industrial Officer with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union in their national office in Sydney.

The name of the aboriginal people who lived in these parts is still not yet confirmed. Nevertheless, they were here and this country has never been ceded by them.

I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging and respect the truth that they have never ceded their country to anyone.