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Humans of the Northern Beaches: We Belong is a podcast amplifying diverse voices from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Hosted by local community leaders, each episode takes you on a journey through personal stories that delve into identity, culture, migration, disability, food and the profound connections that bind our community together.
Join us as we celebrate the stories that unite us all and discover how these narratives can inspire meaningful change in our own lives. Subscribe now and be part of a movement that embraces diversity and fosters community spirit.
All views and opinions expressed by participants in this podcast belong to the participants and do not reflect the views of Northern Beaches Council.
Hi, and welcome to the humans of the
Northern Beaches We Belong podcast,
the show that gives a voice to a diverse
range of community members here on the
Northern Beaches in Sydney, Australia.
We wish to acknowledge the traditional
custodians of the lands on which we are
recording this podcast and show our
respect to the elders past, present, and
any Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people listening in.
This podcast is broadly funded by the New
Southwest Government to the New Southwest
Social Cohesion Grants
for Local Government.
All views and opinions expressed by
participants in this podcast belong to the
participants and do not reflect the
views of Northern Beach's Council.
This episode discusses sensitive
topics such as racism and violence.
Listener discretion is advised.
Please take care of yourself, and
if you need to, reach out for help.
You can find more information
in the show notes.
We We are Giuliana and Nancy.
In today's episode, we are going to
discuss Survival with
Giuliana about her life story.
Be sure to listen to the
end for all the detail.
Our guest today is Giuliana.
She's a community member who will
share her story of survival with us.
Hi, Giuliana.
Hi, Nancy.
Thank you for joining us and
opening up to our listeners.
It's a real pleasure to be with you today.
My pleasure.
We start with a quick fire questions to
get to know you a little bit So
Manly or Palm Beach?
Both.
One, because Manly's young, energetic,
that whole vibe with it, and Palm
Beach is more relaxing, chilled out.
When you've reached a certain
age, you can appreciate life.
Nice.
Beach or Bush?
Both again, because I was brought...
You can't see it views, but
I'm Jamaican, English Jamaican.
So I was brought up in the country,
in England, a place called Derbyshire.
So I was very I'm countryfied and out in
the bush and picking berries and getting
dandelanis because we used to have rabbits
and stuff like that and go along
the canal and cycle everywhere.
And then also when I used to go
across to my parents' home in Jamaica.
The beaches out there
are absolutely gorgeous.
And then I moved down to Brighton Hope
where it's got pebbled beaches,
but it was my home for 17 years.
So the beach was part of my life, too.
So it's a combination of both, basically.
Beautiful.
Beeline or ferry?
Well, I have to say it has to be ferry
because you don't get the
teenagers on the ferry, really.
I don't like catching the bee line
because of the youngsters and the kids.
And I know they're youthful, but
sometimes they should really...
Actions have consequences.
And this generation, unfortunately for me,
and I'm probably being the old school
of me and quite reserved, whatever.
It's just that.
So I'd rather catch a ferry into the city,
if possible, than the bee liner, or
else I'm a car girl, so I'll just drive.
Wharringamal, all What's
your local business?
Local businesses, because I'm a local
business, you always got to support your
local businesses when it's convenient.
But unfortunately, because of the cost of
living and the price rises and you go to a
larger store like Warringamal, you're
going to get more competition,
so the prices are lower.
So depending It depends what
you're looking for out there, guys.
So it's both.
But obviously in a time of need, when you
can't afford something, unfortunately,
it would have to be Wringamal.
But I would prefer to go local if I could.
Great.
Thanks.
Coffee or tea?
I'm a tea girl.
British, born and bred.
Sorry.
I only take a shot if I have to wait.
I don't know when was the
last coffee I've had, but no.
If I was in desperate need of to get that
kick in the morning, I'd have to rummage
around in my cupboard for coffee.
I do have a coffee I have a machine
on the side, but no pots to fill it.
So, yeah, that was just purely for guests.
But, yeah, tea girl, through and through.
Early bird or night owl?
Both.
I worked in bars, restaurants, and
clubs because hospitality is my trade.
So I was used to get them early.
So the deliveries of the cell is
being dropped off at 6: 00 AM.
But also I'm a night person because of the
clubs and restaurants and working
late and do all the inventories.
And also having children,
you do both, right?
You don't get any sleep.
One child, well, all of them, actually.
It was every hour on the
hour for breastfeeding.
So I had very little sleep, and I had to
basically jugger things
around and everything.
And because of certain circumstances as
well, I tuned my brain to actually be
alert at night because being a single mum
with young kids on your own, I had to be
just that little bit
more aware of my surroundings at night and
in the evening, and I'd be able
to wake up to certain things.
Immune or kangaree?
Now, I'm not an Aussie.
So I would...
And you guys here eat both of them.
And I love animals, so I wouldn't touch...
I just couldn't eat kangoury or emu.
So I love them both equally.
But yeah.
One thing you can't live without?
Air.
And my children.
Yeah.
Life is for the...
Not taking, it's what you actually create.
Happiness, you can't find happiness.
It's what you have to create happiness.
So to do that, air, nobody can live
without air, and I'm grateful
for it that I'm alive.
But the best thing is my family because
they're a part of me, part of DNA, and
it's part of my
history and all the best things
that have happened to me in my life.
So I'm very blessed.
And yeah, I believe everything happens for
a reason, but I'm very blessed and I love
my girls to death, and they know that.
What's your go-to comfort food?
Do you know something?
I don't have one.
And most women probably
say chocolate, right?
And it used to be the time of the
month I've gone through menopause.
It's too late for me now.
And also, I've eaten too much.
But go-to comfort food.
Can we do go-to drink?
Gin and tonic now.
And it used to be Southern comfort
lemonade, but my go-to drink
actually would be gin and tonic.
My daughter introduced me to it.
I swear I got a killer.
He's like, Mum, how many
bottles have you got through?
Well, it's Christmas.
Sorry.
But no, go-to food, I
don't have a go-to food.
I love all food.
I love cooking steak, chicken,
fish, veggies, dishes.
Yeah, we go to drink.
Sorry.
Gin and tonic.
Summer or winter?
Black Jamaican man, give me the summer.
Seriously, the beach.
I don't agree in spending
money going to a cold country.
Why put yourself through that?
And also all the gear you got to buy.
My daughter went skiing and I said,
Isabel, how many jackets and trousers
can you fit into one suitcase?
You got to buy more luggage
to put your clothes in.
And then also, when you're on holiday,
it's the time to relax and everything.
You know how strenuous skiing is?
You got to be fit, man.
It's like, I haven't climbed probably 20
sets of stairs in, I don't know, 30 years.
I couldn't do it.
Beach any day, sunscreen, pinnacle
Hada, cocktails, the water,
the heat against your skin.
No, the all against...
Oh, no, man.
Beach.
It has to be beach.
Sweet or savoury?
I'm sorry, I'm a Gemini.
It's sweet because there was a study done
years ago, and it was shown on TV, BBC.
I can't remember what it's called.
I was talking to my daughter
about it about two years ago.
We watched it together, right?
My daughter's a nerd,
the eldest one, right?
She's a star.
God, she's sour.
It's not She's
just like, I'm a sweet, right?
And all of them are sad.
They eat lemons, raw lemon.
It's like, and I'm saying this
now, my water has just come to...
I can't do it.
And it's all to do with your personality.
And I truly believe this.
There was a study done on in the BBC about
the personality traits of
whether it's sweet or savoury.
And savoury is obviously
the lemon side, right?
Because they're all savoury.
And I'm sweet.
It's all to do with your personalities.
And it's true.
So I should really look that up because
it's a brilliant documentary
and how they broke it all down.
Sour or sweet, it was called, right?
And I'm a sweet any day.
Sweet?
Yeah.
Favourite coffee shop on the beaches?
Okay.
I don't have a favourite coffee shop
because I'm not a coffee drinker,
and I work five days a week.
I always have done living on the northern
beaches, and I obviously couldn't afford
to buy it during the time
when I first moved here.
And it's not part of my culture
because it's a beach culture.
I moved to the area because I love the
environment, whereas it also brought
back my memories of growing up as a kid.
So to go to a coffee shop is a luxury for
me, and to have that time to
just go in the morning on a lint.
I work.
That never, ever happens for me.
City life or counterfeit?
Both, again, because I was born in
the country and I'm a city girl.
So when I first arrived here, I tell you a
quick story, is that where I lived
in England is Brighton & Hove.
Manly was based on Brighton, so that's
where they actually got the idea to
do all the designs and everything.
And we arrived and I thought, okay, we
lived 10 minutes walk
from the city in Brighton.
And I thought, okay, I want
to be close to that area.
And the house is my house, an old
Victorian house, Freedancy house.
And I looked around the area and well,
Laura was the place where I thought this
is similar to where I
used to live in England.
Three-storey basement, small garden in
the front and back, garage, whatever.
Anyway, so I looked around and I said to
the girls, I'm just going to pop in and
see the agent
to see how much it would cost.
So I walked in and said, Oh, hi.
So just inquiring, says, Do you
have any details on the property?
So they turned around and slid the
information across with the price on it.
Nowadays, they don't
have the price, right?
The price on it.
I looked down, I went, Okay, bye.
See you.
Walked back out again and goes,
Guys, we can't afford this.
And then walked back out.
It was crazy.
So ideally, I would have loved to live
like Double Bay, Rose Bay, Royal Bay, or
Lara, because that was a similar area
where I lived in England
compared to where I live now.
But having said that, Wild Beach, which I
lived, the area that I
bought in, is just as nice.
And I ended up with a shack that, yeah, it
was a beautiful But it's
a shack, but it's a shack.
What's your favourite way
to relax after a long day?
My bath, by finding it very
difficult to get out once I get in.
Sorry.
It's like, God, I got to get out of here.
No.
Yeah, my bath, relaxing If I could
afford massages, it would be nice.
Yeah.
Favourite spot on the northern beaches?
Favourite spot is my home
because you can't beat home.
Everything's there.
And where I live, it's walking distance
to Whirl Beach, and it's just home.
That's why I picked it.
I looked at 133 houses before
purchasing that property.
I put an offering around the corner, got
gezumpt, and I got to meet my
neighbour who's like family to me now.
And it was fate that this happened.
I truly believe in fate.
And then I said, Right, girls, that's it.
We were in the city at Daling Harbour.
Sorry, Circular King having lunch one
Sunday, and the estate agent or my lawyer
said, We put an offer in, and they
said, No, sorry, you've been gezumpt.
I went, What?
And I thought, What do you mean 'gasumped?
' Because in England, once you did
accept your offer, that was it, finally.
So I said, I don't believe this.
So we drove back and I said, I'm
going around to look one more time.
My middle child said, No, I'm fed up of
looking at houses because the 133 houses,
I was dragging around two children, right?
And I said, I'm sorry, but just
one more look, I promise you.
And they said, afterwards we'll have to
rent because we can't find
anywhere that we like.
So I said, okay, okay.
So we went past because we were
based to Eleanor at the time.
We drove past Eleanor, hit the
bend, went round, came back round.
Instead of I think the left
turn, I took the right turn.
And then on the corner was
the property that came up.
And I drove round and I looked at it and
I'm like, Oh, God, I can't afford this.
It's on the corner and
it looks really big.
And I came back round and then luckily
went through a series of events which I
won't really go into
because it's a long story.
And then we eventually got the property.
So it was a blessing.
So I was saying things
happen for a reason.
Amazing.
Which was good.
So how long have you been living
on the northern beach, is it?
We arrived in 2002, so it's coming
into 23 years, which is good.
And how do you feel you belong
on the Northern Beaches?
Belonging...
Because I do family day care, it's all
about inclusiveness and making them feel
part of your home and the whole
holistic approach to everything.
For me, because of my culture, black
Jamaican and being British, it was only
acceptable when people spoke to me.
They always presumed different things.
So take, for instance,
to give you an idea.
When I first started taking my second
child to preschool care, one of the
parents would say, Oh, are you the nanny?
To start a conversation.
And then other people would
say, Oh, are you on holiday?
They didn't think.
They just presumed, right?
Then there was other incidents
that were quite worse than that.
And I just thought, These people are
so negative and narrow minded, right?
That they can't look
outside the box, right?
Because that's what they used to.
And the word The theme that everybody say
to me is like, it's
insular, political, hiju.
The fact is you have to be careful.
Everybody knows everybody.
Everybody knows everybody's stories and
stuff, and it extends even further
than that in certain groups.
And I'm thinking, This is crazy.
They're not lived.
They're not gone and travelled.
I lived in Singapore for two years.
I went to Europe, Paris, France, or Wood.
It's like, do they not
understand how things are?
It's like they want to
own it as their own.
And I'm thinking,
I feel sorry for the Aboriginals.
I really do, because they don't realise
that this was their country first.
And because of that, and that was more
embarrassing because the majority of the
people who live on the
normal beaches are British.
And I'm thinking, they, British people,
would have a better insight because
England, it was so multicultural.
I grew up there, right?
And I'm thinking, it's quite sad.
So feeling a part of the beaches is a
difficult question for me to honestly ask.
I feel at home in my home because that's
an environment that I created, outside
Side, because everybody's so narrow minded
and sorry, some people can be idiots,
especially neighbours,
which I've had to deal with.
It's embarrassing.
And sometimes I feel less shown to think
that I am from the northern beaches, and
I'd rather be living in the city because
it's so multicultural and
People are more down to Earth.
And it's a reality check.
Because of the lifestyle we have here, you
feel like you're on holiday all the time.
So it's a privilege, right?
What you're expecting for your kids.
But I actually chose Northern Beaches
because it was something and the
environment and my home, where I brought
me so many members, where I was brought up
as a child in the country to live
in Brighton and then have the blessing of
going there,
being 10 minutes walk from the city and
all of the benefits from
it combined into one.
So I knew I had to bring them up in a good
environment and then expose them on their
high school year.
So I got them out of the beach just
further down to go to a certain school
called Makela Girls, which they all got in
for scholarships, which was really good,
to educate them It was a multicultural
school and it was all girls, and
girls do better in a all-sex school.
It's been known that the statistics
are there, and boys do better in co-ed.
So that's why.
Would you like to share with
us your story of survival?
Well, my story of survival begins two
years after being here, when my
ex decided it wasn't for him.
So my youngest was two.
My middle child was three and a half
because they're born
in the same A month, but two years later.
And my eldest was nine at the
time, coming on nine and a half.
So I came over to Australia, 2002, three
children and a husband at the time.
No family, okay?
So we knew his family, and
they were based in Eleanora.
And then we bought
along the beaches at Well Beach.
And to have a person who you were with for
25 years, because we met when I was 16 and
a half, went out for five years, got
engaged when I was 21, coming on
22, got married when I was 26.
So in total, I knew him 10 years
before I actually married him.
So our families were entwined.
And I found out that his mum knew my mum
because my mum was studying to be a doctor
at the City Hospital, Derby City Hospital,
and his mum was in nurse
midwifery, whatever.
And they knew of each of that.
I had no idea.
And his elder sister knew my older brother
because her best friend was
going out with my big brother.
And it was just so...
It was just crazy.
Anyway, we got on Our family's all in to
twine, really tight, brilliant
engagement party, brilliant wedding.
Everybody came up because I had it
back in my hometown in Derbyshire.
Everybody came up from Brighton home.
We stayed.
It was a long weekend, the best weather
that had for the whole year.
It was perfect.
We went to Barbados for our honeymoon, but
see friends and relatives and stuff
like that around the Caribbean.
It was basically a dream come
true, childhood sweetheart.
That very rarely happens.
Then we travelled, so we lived in
Singapore for a couple of years in
1993, when my eldest was born,
and we lived there for two years.
Then we decided that we
wanted other children.
If you have a male in Singapore,
obviously, you'd be Singaporean, but
you have to do service for two years.
You have to go back every
couple of years to do service.
So that would be a bit restricting.
And we knew we'd always want to go back,
either back to England
or elsewhere to live.
So we said, okay, we want more children.
Let's go back to England.
So then I had the other two
in England, Brighton Hove.
And we decided, well, actually, it was the
ex, decided that he wanted to move and
need more space because where I lived in
Brighton, there was a
heavy influx of people.
I don't know where I know Norman Cooke,
Fatboy Slim, the DJ, was married to Zoe
Ball at the time, and she'd be on BBC
radio advertising the fact,
Yes, come down to Brighton.
It's the best time of your
life, blah, blah, blah.
So everybody had this
greater influx in Brighton.
So then more people started coming in, and
then more people started coming in and
staying steep on the beach, whatever.
We just knew we needed more space.
So we eventually ended up in Australia,
out of Jamaica, Canada, and Spain.
So we emigrated, but we said we're
going to do it the right way.
So we got permanent residency first,
and then we decided to come over.
And I thought it was just going to be hot.
I didn't even check out the seasons or
anything because we lived in Singapore,
and I thought, okay,
it's close to Singapore.
Then it's going to be
hot, blah, blah, blah.
They gave up all my
jumpers, wearing my boots.
Anyway, got to Australia, realised they do
have seasons, and
we just had to find a home.
And then I told you about the story about
looking for the home, and we found it.
And then I decided, because of my ex
leaving, I had to change
my whole career around.
I had to restudy because
I was a manager and director where I used
to set up, go in, and set up
bars, restaurants, and clubs.
And I was also...
I can't remember the
word, actually, I feel.
It's like I had to go into trouble bars,
restaurants, and clubs so that
I would wean out all of the...
I just basically changed the whole thing
around and revamped it and painted it
and got new staff in and everything.
So that would be my job.
So I'd actually go in and reset it and
just basically hit the profit margins and
change it around and get a new clientele
and change that whole premise, whether
it's a bar or restaurant or club together,
just change that and get new influence.
So just get a new whole marketing floor
around it, which that's what I would do.
So living on the beaches, I had to decide.
I couldn't really do that, but I did
that part-time and had really great...
Met two really lovely people, Chris and
Vicky, who used to run Avalon Golf Club.
And I knew a friend who was a chef, and
they'd ask their hip to come in as the
chef because they turned around the golf
club and made a restaurant called Lyn's
Restaurant in the Avalon Golf Club.
I said, Do you know we're doing to get
experience and everything because we
used to work for the Avocada Group.
Would you like to come
in and do front of house?
Which is me, right?
And I love it in
Finding the staff, training them all up,
getting the uniform sorted out,
doing the whole thing, fine dining.
Yeah, yeah, brilliant.
So it took us two years
of me waiting to get that position.
I was doing stuff on the sideline,
but also doing other jobs.
I think four at one time because I was a
single mum because they exed left by then.
And then, yeah, so I set it all up and
then went in and we did Lyns restaurants
for, it was like a couple of years.
My experience with people were good to me
and helped me at the time
and going on my journey.
And those people were with me when I went
through that journey, which was amazing.
And they got to know my girls, and the
girls had run across from Mavlon public
school to the golf course, and
Vicky and Chris would support them.
Yeah, take whatever you
want out of the fridge.
Have a drink of chocolate.
What?
Excuse me.
So, yeah, they had the best time.
It was really, really good.
So from moving on from
that, then I had to...
So basically, the whole
thing is the survivor.
This is all about surviving.
I had no partner doing
everything on my own.
I actually divorced him
because I thought, Hell, no, you
aren't going to get away with that.
I'm going to divorce you.
So he decided we're not going to have
the whole of our, basically, assets done.
He wanted to do it at the same time.
So if we're going to divorce, I'm not
going to finalise our
agreement until I'm divorced.
I said, fine, we'll just
do it all on the same day.
So it was all about
control, basically, for him.
And he just wanted to sell the house.
So I said, No, there's no way.
I've worked too hard for this.
And not going to have my children
not have a roof over their heads.
I put my plan in place
and it all worked out.
Did all the processes, the mortgages, the
goals, what I'd need to survive, how
much jewellery I had in gold, whatever.
Sold the lot, asked my
mum and dad to for backup.
This is what I need to
I called my mum and my mum goes, I can't
do it in a Jamaican voice
because that'd be so funny.
Julie?
She said, Send me the details over.
I said, Mum, it says, By the time I write
everything down and post it, it's going
to take five days to get there to you.
Then for you to five days to get back.
I said, No, I want to see.
I need to read it.
Because she was a business lady.
Capricorn, so got
strict, really good head.
So that came up.
So I wrote it down for my mum and dad.
What I wanted to do, outcomes, everything.
Sent it by a post, took
five days to get to Jamaica.
Then she gets it called, Yeah, Mum got it.
Okay, that's fine.
Blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, no, fine.
No problem.
We'll send you whatever blah, blah, blah.
Thank you, Mum.
And that was doing my bifolds in my home.
So everything has a story
as well in the house.
So that was the main thing.
My Mum and Dad, that was my bifold doors.
And I did cut into the part of the grass
made amplifier to seats because when I
open up the bifold, you can see the back.
It was a white drop to have
the cinema for the girls.
So the all little things in the house was
to do with certain bits
that I wanted to achieve.
And then the main thing
was survivor was the girls.
It was to keep them positive, right?
Because I believe out of every negative
thing that happens in life,
there's always a good thing.
You just have to search for it.
So I got the positive side of everything
and made it a fun thing for them to do,
even when we had to go to the court case.
And it was quite often we
had to go into the city.
So instead of waking up in the morning and
saying, look, we've got to go to the city,
quick, got to get changed, being in
traffic, all that rush, I'd go the night
before, book a really nice hotel,
get somewhere with Paul, and it was
Radisson Blue, which was our
favourite, and they got to know us.
So I said, Hey, guys.
He'd call, Oh, yeah, doing football?
He says, Come up, Met Seam.
Met Seam level number five.
I went, Yeah, no problem.
So that's the Met Seam level.
We got the pool and the swim
and the spa and everything.
So I said, Hey, guys.
Yeah, mum, pack your sofa going.
So I'd drive in the evening before.
So we'd have a really nice evening.
The girls could swim, whatever.
So I made it into a fun activity, not a
negative, saying, Come
on, we're going to go.
It's a traffic.
You got to do this,
Because they had to go, I sadly had to go
through all the court case, but
they had their own counsellor.
Because they were so young, they had to
find out what was said was true,
basically, in our relationship.
And it was very difficult for
them because it was just odd.
I never thought I was going to
get divorced or be a single mum.
When I arrived here and I went to Avalon
Public School, the girls would come back
and say, Mum, you would not believe how
many divorcey parents
there are on the beaches.
I went, What?
They're all divorced.
My parents weren't
married for life, right?
I'm thinking, No, don't be crazy.
And I ended up being one of them because
life brings in certain temptations, right?
And people think the grass is green
on the other side of the fence.
And it is so sad to see.
And my ex fell for that.
That's embarrassing, right?
Basically, to me, he was just weak.
He wasn't strong enough.
And unfortunately,
it's his loss because my girls, I look
like they've benefited
from so much more, and they are so strong.
I'm so proud of all three of them,
and they've achieved so much as well.
And they're strong, intelligent
women with beautiful souls, beautiful
minds, and they're gorgeous.
They're just amazing.
They look all European, thank
God, and they just look fabulous.
And I'm so proud of
every single one of them.
And if you're listening here now, I may
have a tear coming in my eyes, but I do.
My life would not be the
same without my three girls.
And I do not regret a single thing.
So during the time of living on the
beaches, I had to take two neighbours to
court for verbal abuse
and threatening behaviour.
I won.
There was a certain family that
no longer lived there anymore.
And there's another family
as well, which is Rude.
I've had two incidents with
my recent neighbour as well.
But because I've lived there for so long,
I've seen this wave of different
cultures of couples coming in.
And I'm sorry, they're just, how can I
explain this word for uneducated people?
And they look at me as if
to say I have no right.
One day, I turned around and said to me,
Oh, I'll have to speak to the owner first.
I went, sorry?
I said, yeah, I I own that.
That's my property.
I own it.
Seriously, I don't want to get into it
because I'm starting to get really
annoyed now and get slightly angry.
And it brings me back to being as a kid,
of been going through racism at school.
I come from a family of 10, and I'd wake
up some mornings and my dad, and this is
no word of a line, I'm
saying it on air now.
Our house was black and white.
It was a Tudor-style house in England,
and my parents worked very hard.
There was 10 of us in our family, and
we all had duties and chores to do.
So that house was spotless.
And people on our nature, on where I live,
which was Wordsworth Avenue,
which is after a famous poet.
You should look him up,
it's a beautiful poetry.
It was called Wordsworth Avenue.
It's a slightly larger road width.
It was very, very...
I still today, this day, I I don't know
how my parents did it,
but they did it, right?
It was a really nice house, and they
batted on the garage,
and people would be...
It's like envy or just resentment,
thinking, Oh, how did they do it?
These whatever people from Jamaica.
I'm not saying the N-word because
that used to be used all the time.
And how did they do it?
I felt like I was living my life again as
a kid when I moved to the North Beaches.
It was horrible.
The pain, and I know what
my parents had to sacrifice.
I just said to them, I am living your
life, Mum and Dad, but
I choose to live here.
Nobody's not going to dictate to me where
I live, and I want my girls
to have that experience.
I'm getting really upset.
If you think of digging the pain that
you've lived your life for as
a kid to experience it again.
It's awful.
I turned that
anger and that feeling of sickness and
that bottom belly when you literally feel
yourself vomiting and you got nothing else
to give except the the
lining of your stomach.
It is awful.
I swore I would not feel like that again.
All my kids to go through that again.
So that gave me my past experience of the
racism, what my parents went through,
was a situation.
Two incidents, I'm going to tell you,
out of quite a few that had happened.
One, what really,
I'll never forget this, changed my mind
about people, was when I was a kid, I was
about six, seven, and my mum said,
My older brother was Roger, Roger.
Can you go next door?
She was cooking.
I haven't got enough sugar, cast
sugar, so she'd go and get some cast.
Yeah, mum, gave him the money.
Went outside, Oh, my mum,
can I go with him as a kid?
Because I wanted to get
a lolly or something.
He said, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He said, You can go.
But Roger had already left
and gone out the front gate.
So I ran out the front door to get the
gate because I had quite a big garden.
I ran out to get out to front door.
As I turned to say Roger,
I saw him standing there talking to this
old guy, and the guy
goes, get him, the dog.
He had this Alcedation dog.
He goes, get him.
The dog jumped.
Hold on.
The dog...
Sorry.
Wicked.
No, no, no, no.
The dog jumped on my brother,
bit into his left side of his stomach, a
ripped out, a massive chunk of his flesh.
The guy, I just screamed,
ran back to my mum.
Thank God she was a nurse, told her.
She goes, What?
What, what?
Come, come, come, come,
come, He took him off.
She literally grabbed Roger, picked him
up, took him on the floor
and just patted his...
And just packed his
stomach with this cloth.
And...
I said, Call dad.
She said, Get George, get George.
And get dad to come home.
They call the police.
Police came round.
The police said, There's
nothing we can do about it.
My dad said, No, that's a lie.
He goes, Sorry, we can't
do anything about it.
He goes, That dog should be put down, and
I want that person to go around to his
house now and do something around it.
To this day, the guy got a talking
to from the police officer.
The The dog was never put down.
Roger had to suffer.
The packing had to be done daily to take
out, so it wouldn't
cause infection to heal.
And I swear to God,
the whole point said, No, I'm not.
I will stand up for my rights.
I will never let anybody touch my
kids because if they do, they're dead.
Sorry, but anybody.
So when my neighbour threatened me and my
girls, I just kicked into mode, took them
to court, won my case, got an apology.
When my case My other neighbour did the
same, no, stood up, took a threat, took...
Yeah, they backed off.
When anybody confronts me or
says anything, no, because...
And I'm an ex-god damn police officer.
I served.
I pledge my allegiance to Queen Elizabeth.
I was an ex-cadet,
an ex-police officer, and I joined the
police force to stop racism because what
I've experienced at school and what I've
seen and everything and gone through.
And even to the fact relating
back when I was growing up.
On a weekly, maybe monthly basis, we would
have black dog poos smeared on our
white wall saying, Black pigs, go home.
That's what my parents had to deal with.
And they sheltered us from that.
And they actually toughened us up saying,
There are two things, and I remember this
so fiddly, there are two things different
that makes us different
in this world as people.
It's the colour of your skin
and how much money you've got.
That is it.
It's what you choose to do with
it that makes you who you are.
And that's from my dad,
and I'll never forget that.
A negative situation,
I think positive comes right, so
always look for the positives.
And that's the same
thing I've told my girls.
And do not put up with anything that you
don't believe in or be forced to do
anything, because I believe in karma, it
will come back and you do the right thing
and you treat people how you
would want to be treated.
So for living on the
beaches, it was a fight.
All my life, it was a fight.
I have five good girlfriends.
Even to this day, they
say, How you did it.
We don't know how you got through it.
See me, I've had to run my own business
and then my girls and look after them.
I was strict with my girls.
They weren't allowed to have boyfriends
until they were 18 because
I didn't want to have that.
We girls are emotional.
I wanted to get them through with the
HSC and find out what they wanted to do.
One's an engineer, one's doing
humanitarian, works for
charities and as a model.
The other ones, they all could be models,
but they've done really good things.
One's a fashion designer, just
the youngest one's a singer.
She was on The Voice.
They've all achieved really good things.
To have an engineer, a technical
engineer for your first born.
And then humanitarian rights.
Studying wants to save the world and give.
She went back to Jamaica, paid for this
whole school to be painted up, and she
did all the charity work on her own.
Nobody told her to do it.
She saved her money and spent her own
money, went back to Jamaica and Kingston,
the school, and gave all this stuff to the
school and her time and
redesigned it and everything.
Then I have my youngest one who's giving
through her voice and wants to give back
through that because she loves her music.
She's a fashion designer.
They're all givers.
They're not one of my girls.
I take us out of this world.
They've all given to society and
the community that they live.
And my job as being an educator from a
daycare for 18 years, I've given back.
I've had over 300 children
through my homes, right?
I work five days a week.
Just because you don't see me,
it's not just because I'm there.
So I've had to survive.
And that's why I said, Survival.
I've had no choice but to,
because everything was against me.
And everybody always presumes certain
things when you don't presume.
If you don't know, just
ask at the end of the day.
And I could go and tell...
I could tell you so many other stories,
but that's the main gist of it.
And I did that on my own with my three
girls, with the support of my mum and dad
and my family that got me through the
main bit from when their father left.
And at the end of the day, the
girls have benefited from that because it
was me and my influence only
that changed and moulded them with my
values and my beliefs that made them
respectful, decent human beings that would
treat anybody the same as them
and not presume that just because they
live on the beaches, they have money,
they can afford this and wealth, whatever.
No, not everybody's the same.
And that's what people need to
know because people just presume.
And that's the wrong thing.
That just annoys me.
We don't all live the same, do we?
No.
Thank you so much, Julia.
No, my pleasure.
Sorry, I got emotional, but
that actually just keeps me going.
The inspiration to when you say
something, you process it again.
And my life has been so good and I respect
and I appreciate my neighbours My good
neighbours that I've gotten to know,
Heather, Anna, Martin,
as well as Frank, he passed away.
Alan passed away.
He used to be a volunteer at the zoo.
Tina and Kieran are family to me.
They helped me when I was studying and my
support, backup and everything, and Tina
and Kieran, at some point, I could not
have done or been here without
those people in my lives.
And yeah, I had to say thank you, and
especially to my girls, because
everybody needs a purpose in life.
If you don't have a
purpose, you're a wanderer.
You don't know what you're going to do.
So having that purpose for
me in my life kept me going.
And it was so...
Yeah, I appreciated it so much
because it gave me the strength.
And I look back now and the things that
I've had to sacrifice
and had to go without.
It was the best thing.
I have no regrets, no regrets at all.
So that's my story, surviving
on the northern beaches.
And people just don't look at somebody and
think, Oh, they're this or that,
because you don't know their story.
Thank you for that.
It's okay.
Thank you.
Everyone has a story to share.
The next time you see someone you don't
know in your neighbourhood, be curious,
say hello, and you may be surprised
to hear the story they have to tell.
We hope you have enjoyed this episode.
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