Joy Sellars' Story
"I was born in 1950 and was taken from my mother, as was my sister, my mother and grandmother.
My Grandmother was taken from our great grandmother at the Lutheran Mission Koonibba in South Australia in 1908. This was the start of our disconnection with country and culture.
I was placed with a family that had emigrated from England and was isolated and made to feel “different” because of the colour of my skin. I was never accepted for myself.
When the Australian Government made changes to adoption laws, I was able to access my ward file and found out my mother’s first name and a 38 year old description. Armed with this scant information, I went to the local Aboriginal Co-Operative and told them my story. I was not very hopeful that they would be able to help as I didn’t have enough information. I was right about that. However, just as I was preparing to leave, a community Elder came into the room and was told my story. She looked at me and said, "I know your mother, we have been friends for forty years."
We were all in tears and the elder went to her office and rang my mother in Adelaide. What a shock it must have been for her, as when she had tried to get me back, she had been told by the police that I had died.
Two days later I went to Adelaide and met my mother, a sister and two brothers along with their partners and children. If I had left the office of the Aboriginal Co-operative one minute earlier I would never have found my family. The Elder that helped me passed away shortly after I re-connected with my family, I believe we were destined to meet on that day as I had given up any hope of finding my family.
Along with my sister and my niece, we spent 23 years trying to find where we had come from by accessing public records and trying to find records relating to my grandmother. One day my niece obtained a record from the Public Records Office and in a pencil notation written on the document, we discovered my grandmother was given another name. We had been searching for 23 years looking up records under the wrong name!
We, as a family, now know who we are and where we come from. We are Wirangu and our ancestral land is from the coast at Ceduna into Spinifex country around Ooldea Soak in the west of South Australia.
It was a lifelong search but my son and granddaughter know their history and share my pride in our ancient culture and our ancestors who have walked our country for thousands of years.
My art is about reconnection to our past and is a way to keep and celebrate our future as proud indigenous people."