CA: 2021 was the year of isolation. We found ourselves locked in our own homes. But we’re still lucky, because we are still able to contact the outside world through the social media. Unlike back in 1988, when I arrived in this country that I knew nothing about. I’d arrive in Broome in September. It was quite a shock. Because I came from the city, and that wasn’t Australia I have in mind.   

But was I disappointed? No. Because I married this wonderful man that promised to love, respect and support me for the rest of his life. So, that afternoon, he took me to the town centre, the Chinatown. There were a lot of people there, but when I looked around, he was the only white guy. And that was like oh. What place?   

So the next stop was the Japanese Cemetery. I don’t know, have you been to the Japanese Cemetery? Rows and rows and rows of gravestones. There were over 800 Japanese divers who were buried there. And I look at my husband, and I’m married to a pearl diver. And that was too much. So I said, ‘okay, well, just give it a rest.’ Went home and he went back to work.  

He worked by the tides. Sometimes for seven days straight, or nine days straight. And leave home at 5 o’clock in the morning, come home at 6 o’clock at night. For the first nine days, that’s where I felt the isolation. No one to talk to, because my parents back in the Philippines don’t have telephone. And I can’t go anywhere, because I know no one there.  

So I spent nine days on the couch with a tin of biscuits, watching the Midday Show with Ray Martin, Days of Our Lives, Bold and the Beautiful, and the Young and the Restless. That’s how I spent all my nine days. And I said this is not the way I wanted to live. So I asked my husband to, like, really hunt for Filipinos. So we looked around.   

Oh my God, in 1988, there were only five Filipinos—including myself—in Broome. So, we got the five of us and we played cards under the coconut trees. That’s our social activities. So in 1990, my daughter was born. And I said oh yes, I can be… explore more. Then I have the baby with me and we can go to playgroup or play school. 

So, yeah, I learnt a bit of the language. The language is—like I can speak English, but then the accent, the Filipino accent, and the Australian accent is very, very hard. Even now my husband says, ‘what you talking ‘bout?’ So anyway, in 1991, I became an Australian. So I said oh yes I’m Australian now! I can go out and look for a job!   

So I went to Charlie Carter’s, now owned by Coles, at Seaview. There’s a man wearing a white shirt in front of the store and I ask him for a job. And he said, ‘why should I give you a job?’. And I said, ‘because I am a hard worker and a fast learner.’ So I went home, got a phone call—oh I got the job!  

I was like, oh my God! How good was I to get a job over the phone!? And not long after that, I found myself managing a department. I managed the dairy department. And being a manager is so hard living in Broome, because the truck just comes in three days a week, and if you miss one order, you don’t have stock for the whole week.   

And if there’s flood, [inaudible words], the truck cannot come in. So I really have to be really on your… how to do the ordering so you have the stock. Because they’re always like, red alert: cyclones coming. And everyone’s, like, panic buying. So then, and I’m still longing for the community—community spirit—because I came from the Philippines, and there’s people everywhere.        

So I’m still longing for that one so I built a community, a community of Filipinos. And in 1994, we participated in the Shinju Festival. This is the festival of pearl. And there were only like fifteen of us, and we had this semi-trailer truck—very, very long—and we had this [inaudible words] and pearl shell. And that was the time that we really feel accepted in the community.  

And I have my precious plaque, 27 years old, 1994, best in costume. My daughter was finishing primary school so my husband and I decided to give her a good education. But in Broome there were only two high schools. So we decided to move out of Broome, and landed here in Mandurah in 2002.  

And, surprise surprise, unplanned pregnancy! I was two months pregnant when we moved here. I had my son at 40 years old. And once again we feel isolated, because we don’t know anyone. But this time I have my husband with me, my daughter, and a new baby. I really loved the community spirit, so I went back to work, left my husband at home, and he became the Dad until today—house husband.  

In 2013, the sports club asked me to run for president. And I said, ‘I don’t know anything about sports! I haven’t hit the ball in my life!’ But anyway, I’m a master of knowing nothing, I just learn as I go. So I said, ‘okay, why not?’ So from 2013 to 2019 I ran the sports club from the grass, because we just played from the grass. Now it’s Mandurah’s Filipino sports club; it’s one of the biggest sporting clubs in WA.  

And in 2019, I decided that the club can run itself fully because there’s lots of people on that play sports. So I moved away, and I started another group, and this time it’s about the talent. So, with a few of us, we all started a group in 2019: the Mandurah Filipino Australian Multicultural Community Incorporated. It’s to nurture, promote all the talents of the culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the community.     

And we were making rags and blankets and we distributed it at Christmas time to the homeless at the foreshore. And luckily, or thankfully, the City of Mandurah provided us with a grant to buy sewing machines, so we have sewing machines now. So our next project is going to be wearable rags, so we’re making pyjamas and sleepwear for the homeless.  

So there is really, really something that we can contribute. Like you see, if you can move, and if you can talk, and if you have a phone, you’re not really isolated. So, there’s always someone that will listen. There’s a lot of different organisations that would love to have you. Your time is precious to them. There’s the op-shop, we need people to come in, to really help us out.  

And the feeling of belongingness, the feeling of happiness, that you’ve contributed to the society, is the greatest gift that we can give ourselves.  

Thank you.