WITNESSING first-hand the trauma of the stolen generation inspired the 40 years of advocacy that has led to Betsy Buchanan being inducted to the WA Women’s Hall of Fame.
Dr Buchanan was one of 15 women recognised for their achievements on International Women’s Day in March.
“It was a huge surprise, I was thrilled and honoured,” she said.
“It was unexpected because the work we do is not high profile; we are dealing with people who are marginalised and our work is quite confidential.”
After graduating in law from the University of WA, Dr Buchanan was employed by Crown Law but then chose to be a voluntary legal and social welfare advocate for Indigenous people.
Her path in life was strongly influenced by her childhood. Born in 1948, she grew up in a country town in the Great Southern region near a reserve for Aboriginal people.
“I observed how terribly they were treated,” Dr Buchanan said.
“There were a lot of children being removed from their families and conditions on the reserves were quite abysmal.
“There was no electricity and there would be 10 people living in a hut with no running water.
“Noongar people worked on our farm and they were very hardworking and loyal. Over the years I had three Noongar nannies who I am still in contact with.”
They were “incredibly good” to her.
“I could see how unjust it was that they were forced to live in these terrible conditions and then their children were taken away because it was said they weren’t being looked after properly,” Dr Buchanan said.
“It happened to one of my nannies. It was terrible; she was so traumatised and just fell apart.
“I became more aware of it when I went to primary school. Sometimes grandparents would come to the school crying and looking for their grandchildren who had been taken away.
“Later I would come home from boarding school and find families decimated.
“I think God meant me to see these things and that is what led me to this work.”
In 1976, Dr Buchanan established the first Community Law Centre. There are now 30 such centres in WA.
“When we set up our first community centre it was near a park in Beaufort Street, Perth, where Aboriginal people gathered,” she said.
“A lot of them were women whose children had been removed and they had come to the city to look for them. Some of them knew me from the country and trusted me.
“It also helped that they knew I was working voluntarily. They knew I was doing it for altruistic reasons and that was important to them.”
Dr Buchanan’s husband supported her in working for nothing in such an area of need.
“Coming from the country it is normal to volunteer because a lot of country areas rely on volunteers to keep things going.
“We were eventually able to reunite some families. But it was hard because some children had been adopted and names had been changed, and when we started there was no freedom of information.
“Before reuniting anyone the first battle was finding housing because the women couldn’t see the children until they had a home. They couldn’t just meet in the park.
“Sometimes someone will say to me, ‘you got my mum a house’; it is something that is remembered.”
Dr Buchanan has worked on cases involving housing evictions, the reporting of child sexual abuse and the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody.
“The abuse of those taken into institutions is heartbreaking.
“Until the hearings people never realised the extent as it was something never talked about.
“These scars are very recent and we are paying for it in mental health, homelessness and in our prisons. If it was better managed, it would cost a fraction as much.
“For Indigenous people family is the core and family break-up is devastating.
“People die young because of this terrible history and their society is doubly damaged because they have no elders. This is a society that reveres and values elders.”
Dr Buchanan said it is hard to make a difference to a problem that is so immense.
“But it is the greatest joy having seen something so unjust and traumatic to be able to make even a small difference. It is not given to everyone to be able to do that.
“It is a blessing to work with Noongar people because they look more to the heart than to outward trappings.
“Their response to the award has been wonderful, it means so much to them, because it feels they matter as well.”
Contributions recognised
Other 2017 WA Women’s Hall of Fame inductees include Professor Arlene Chan, Jan Cooper, Jenny Davis, Cheryl Edwardes, Valerie French, Anne Leach, Julie Shuttleworth, Diane Smith-Gander, Tammy Solonec and Paula Wagg.
Four women were also included on the roll of honour, which acknowledges the outstanding efforts of women who have passed away.
They are Roseanne Fuhrmann, Judith Treby, Olga May Goss and Frederica Georgina Cook.
