CHRISTINE Milne may be a proud grandmother these days, but it is her activist life that has given her so many great stories to share with the next generation.
The former Greens leader – who rose to political prominence as a high school teacher opposed to a proposed pulp mill in her home town of Wesley Vale in 1988 – retired from parliament in 2015 on learning she would become a grandmother.
As well as enjoying family life, Christine, 64, has written her autobiography and hopes it will encourage readers to rummage through their garages for items of family history or to ask a relative about mysterious heirlooms.
An Activist’s Life takes a somewhat unorthodox approach to autobiographical story telling: Christine has chosen to share the stories behind 18 objects that have a deep personal meaning to her.
“I find it easiest to tell stories more closely associated with events I’ve been to or objects that have had some personal meaning to me,” she said.
Not only did she feel the objects would help provide context for her story – she hoped relating their stories might encourage some readers to do likewise.
“We lose all that social and environmental history. So many people will be sitting on treasure troves,” she said.
The items are diverse and reflect various stages of her life – from her childhood on a farm, to her political and activist life that has taken her to many parts of the world.
From the butter pats she still keeps in her kitchen, to the Pride T-shirt she wore while marching beside her son Thomas at the Sydney Mardi Gras – the book is filled with objects that have helped shape her identity.
Others include a piece of nautilus shell from heritage-listed reefs of New Caledonia and two bottles of water from underneath the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica that remind her of her campaign against climate change.
Another personal favourite is the yellow and black beret given to her by the Knitting Nannas activist group to thank her for her service in the “war” against coal seam gas in Lismore in 2014.
The former teacher, political sciences and history major said it was vital that Australians maintained ties to our social history.
“It’s critically important, because people need to connect with their own land and sense of place,” Christine said.
“As people get older, they become much more interested in what their forebears did, where they came from and what they did for their community.
“In the future, people need to see (artefacts such as) these berets in the same way we currently see the baggy green.”
She urged anyone who thought they might have old materials from a social protest or political campaign, be they T-shirts, flyers, posters, stickers or other documents, to try to locate them.
“At very least, I’d ask people to talk to their family member about why they kept that ornament on the mantelpiece or why a particular object is important to them.”
She advised readers who found any items they felt might be of national interest to gather them together with a clear cover letter and to take them to their local library to seek further advice.
- An Activist Life by Christine Milne (UQP), $32.94.