Stories from the Aboriginal Women of the Yarning Circle: When Cultures Collide For me and many of the women in my family, our mothers and grandmothers, sisters and aunties, I often think of them and what history has done to them. Despite all of their efforts to give us a good life, they were forced into positions and subjected to great inhumanities. The greatest inhumanity that I know the women in my family experienced, was the way they were treated as mothers, B(3ssie. ' In recent times, a number of women's groups have invited us to speak about our experie:nces in relatio'n to the family. Interestingly, one of the most prominent topics on which we have' been encouraged to speak has been that of the dysfunction of Aboriginal families. While to some extent this might be justified, given some of the content and findings in our report, 'Young Aboriginal Females reported Missing to Police: Which Way for Service and Prevention'/ it appears that this call to name Aboriginal families as dysfunctional arises out of a need, by some, to disavow the real life experiences of Aboriginal families following colonisation. It may be a response to the Bringing Them Home Report, which saw a political shift within the white patriarchal state whereby the emphasis on injustice towards Aboriginal Australians gave way to a focus on what is wrong with Aboriginal families and culture: 2 It might also be an attempt, on the part of some, to reiterate the "(early second-wave) notion that women share a common identity and experience arising out of their positioning in society - as sisters and, in the family, as mothers. It is our understanding that, traditionally, white women's groups have fought against patriarchy's oppression and the constraints of the state, for women's right to vote; women's right to education; women's right to own property; women's right to the public sphere; women's right to sexual freedoms; women's right to contraception; women's right to abortion; women's right to ... However, the ideological underpinnings of feminism's championing of women's right to challenge men's wrongs, failed to acknowledge that their use of the term women did not, and does not, speak to, or for, the experiences of all women. Such acknowledgment would recognise that the feminist agenda, perhaps inadvertently, excused, as it subsumed, the real life experiences of Aboriginal women, such as Bessie. This article comes out of, and is based on, stories shared at a recent yarning circle. In developing this paper, the. authors acknowledge that the issues raised might not. apply to all Aboriginal women. We acknowledge that there·: are .many Aboriginal women who have shared loving relationships with non- Aboriginal men and given birth as a result of those relationships: However, it is critical to raise for discussion issues that have been prevalent in the lives of many of our women, who have had their children removed and who have been denied their right to be mothers. We acknowledge those women and our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunties, and daughters - those that have gone before us, those that are present, and those yet to come - to focus this paper on how mother is articulated, constructed and made meaningful by, and for, the Aboriginal women of the yarning circle. We recognise that each Aboriginal woman has her own experience of what mother might mean, and we understand that there may be elements or aspects within these stories that have meaning for others. The yarning circle The yarning circle, as it is refelTed to, was made up of a group of Aboriginal women, and includes the voices of Aboriginal stolen- women and those finding their way home - those who continue to !learch for their mothers and a land that is theirs. We have found that, quite often, when Aboriginal women come together to share, disclose experiences and knowledges that speak to, and of, secret, the· spiritual, and the sacred. We acknowledge the cultural mores, lores, and spiritual essence governing the ownership and protection of certain private information and, with respect and present only that which is able to be shared publicly. In this written work, we take guidance and direction from the Aboriginal women of the yarning circle. We acknowledge their stories to be the point of reference for our written work and up,derstanding of Aboriginal mother, including who gets to be an Aboriginal mother, ahd in what ways, and what that might mean at different points in different histories. We interweave the stories of the Aboriginal women of the yarning· circle with' existing Aboriginal women's and other's writings. In doing so, we seek to understand what it might mean when cultures collide as· a ;means by which we move beyond the plight of the many Aboriginal women who continue to ask, Why can't I be a mother? 34 HECATE HECATE 35