Phil O’Donoghue

LM: Hi there. My name is Luisa Mitchell and I’m a Nyungar woman. 

Today we present to you Backyard Truthtelling: stories from Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians that were shared in local resident’s backyards all around Walyalup.  

Walyalup is the Nyungar name for Fremantle, located on the southern end of what is now called Western Australia. Just like the rest of Australia, Walyalup is an ancient country and belongs to one of the world’s oldest surviving cultures, the Whadjuk Nyungar people.  

In this collection, you’re about to hear live recordings from people who spoke about difficult truths, hidden histories and reimagined futures, all reflections of their lived experiences of colonisation in Walyalup and Australia.  

In partnership with the City of Fremantle and produced by Centre for Stories, these stories were captured on Whadjuk Nyungar boodjar. We pay our respect to Whadjuk Elders, and all Aboriginal people from the beginning, who are the knowledge-keepers and custodians of this place. 

And, before we get started, a brief disclaimer. This story may contain references to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories and practices. It may also include language that some individuals may find distressing or triggering. We acknowledge the ongoing impact of colonisation and the importance of truth telling and respecting Indigenous perspectives and experiences. We also know that these stories may be most triggering for mob, for Aboriginal and Torres strait islander people. So, if you’re struggling while listening to this story, please don’t hesitate to connect with 13 YARN on 13 92 76 and talk with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander crisis supporter. 

In this episode, you will hear Phil O’Donoghue’s story. Phil is a student of the social sciences – educated for everything but qualified for nothing. He’s currently unqualified as the Media Officer for UnionsWA. Phil is a political tragic and over many years has volunteered on local, state and federal elections.  He was actively involved in volunteer coordination and training in WA for the @YES23 campaign during the Voice Referendum.  This is Phil. 

PO: Unconsciousness. That was the outcome of my first useful attempt at multicultural politics. I was, wandered out onto the soccer field at my high school to, joining the game, and Gino lifted a cracker which went straight into my face. I went flat on my back and I was out like a light. 

When I woke up, there was a circle of faces all looking worried, looking back down at me. Italian and Greek boys with brown eyes and olive skin framed by dark hair. And they were worried that that killed the only Anglo-Celt on the field that day.  

At my public school, there were two huge Aussie Rules Football ovals. And that was the main game. One soccer field, which was, and of course, Aussie Rules being all the Anglo Celts, soccer was mostly the Greek and Italian kids, and the occasional pom and then there was the hockey field. Hockey was the game for the people who weren’t any good at soccer or football. So it was cross-cultural, they were my people, that was my game. I’ve got a knee injury now. I still play. 

My family’s sort of, sole parent, working mum and mum always made it clear that if we were going to get by, we had to, you know, education was the only way. I’m about 15 years of age sitting in a lounge room reading a book, and mum comes in with a book in her hand and she says, Philip, you like reading? I think you should read about this, one of your relatives. And she hands over a book about famous Australian women. And she has opened the page to a chapter titled, Lois O’Donoghue, who was my father’s cousin and we were related. I used to joke that we were the white sheep of her family. 

Sometime later, of course, Lowitja changed hername to Lowitja to reflect her reconnection with her people. And she was the first Aboriginal person in Australia to qualify as a nurse. She went on, of course, to be a great leader of her people. And so, of course, naturally, I followed her career the many years after that. 

About 25 at a community welfare sector conference, the dinner and I go over to the dessert table, I look up and there’s Lowitja, smiling, looking down at the dessert spread in anticipation. And the young, arrogant boy that I am, I go, Hi, my name is Phil O’Donoghue. We’re related. And she goes, smile wiped off a face: yeah, how’s that? I said Eileen O’Donoghue, one of one of Eileen Donaghue’s boys.  

She goes Oh, okay, so we are related. Sorry. I get a lot of people, inclined to be related to me and, never sure. And I thought, fuck, I really blew that, you know, like, it was just… and I did think that, really, she didn’t need some never-met distant relative, you know, trying to, schmooze off of her fame. She needed an ally. 

As Ron’s introduction suggests, I’ve. I’ve done a lot of election campaigning up. Made a study in my spare time. I have worked on state, federal, local campaigns of door-knocked these streets around Walyalup Fremantle. And my work, union campaigns a big part of what I do as well. So last year, when the yes campaign came on, I was on board. 

You know, I had actually just finished some fabulous training and campaign organizing and leadership, and I was keen to sort of roll it out. And I sat around with frustration, waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen and watching the reports that had, go from a bipartisan to a partisan to a, you know, a very contested and ugly campaign with not much being done. 

So I went eventually a campaign director was appointed, I rang him up and I said, right, I’m in, you know, and just started, organizing phone banks and training and then more phone banks and more training and then we had a door knocking and then rallies and, we did a lot of really good work that I was proud of, but it was a tough campaign, as many here, I imagine, would know.  

It came home to me when I was door-knocking out Armadale way. I went to this McMansion and knocked on the door, and it’s opened by an Indian-Australian woman with a baby on one hip and a couple of young children around her legs. And, give her the standard spiel lines that I had actually written for people. And then she just looks back at me and she goes, I just don’t think we should have a body that’s based on race. I think everybody should be equal. 

And I was floored. I was back at school looking up into the stars, just dumbfounded. And, continue at that point, is somebody, who’d not had experienced some of the, racism that, you know, was ultra evident in this campaign, could have this view, then we were going to lose. And as we know, we did. It was a tough campaign in a lot of ways. And part of the joy and sadness for me was, I was close enough to some of the Aboriginal leaders to see and respect how they would make decisions by consensus and deep-listening, and much respect. But I could also see that in campaigns you have to make decisions quickly and change what you do. And I had a number of those Aboriginal leaders talk about how this was their very first campaign and they were leading the campaign. And I knew a lot of non-Aboriginal people who knew about campaigning, who were not telling them some home truths because they were uncomfortable. They were silent allies. 

It’s not an emergency just yet, but it could be if we don’t do something about it.  

I run the Aussie Rules Football field is the mind game. That’s where Albo and Dutton and people are playing. And over on the soccer field is where we segregate other people to play is a different sort of game. We’ve got to create a space. I think of it as the hockey field, where it’s a bit more mixed, where it gives, Aboriginal and Islander leaders the opportunity to learn the craft of organizing and leadership to be propelled into a bigger effort because we can’t be scared of our own democracy. We can’t be scared of losing, it’s not the way we’re going to change things. We’ve got to muscle in.  

And so what I’m saying to all of you, whether you’re, you know, you take an interest in these issues or else you wouldn’t be here. Go out, join the Labor Party, join the Greens, join the teals, or stand as an independent, but not against the Mayor of Fremantle. And, get engaged, and learn those crafts and skills and share them because they are needed more than ever. 

Thank you.