This story is part of the July 14 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories . Narelda Jacobs is a journalist, best known for being part of the former Studio 10 team.
Here, the 48-year-old shares her family history as part of the stolen generations, meeting her celebrity crush and her experience coming out. “What I learnt from Dad is that there is strength in vulnerability, and that you can change your mind later in life. You can soften and learn from those around you.
” Credit: Tāne Coffin My maternal grandfather, Douglas, came to Australia from Ireland and worked as a missionary in Kalgoorlie. I visited the city as an adult and Aboriginal elders remembered the family fondly. Douglas and grandma Evelyn died in the late 1960s, before I was born.
My paternal grandfather, Les Jacobs, was a seasonal worker in the York area of Western Australia. My dad, Cedric, spoke of sitting around the camp fire with him, singing and spinning yarns. Dad was taken from his family at nine years old in the 1950s.
He became part of the stolen generations under the assimilation policies in place in WA at the time and never saw his father again. Dad is one of five. The two eldest children weren’t stolen, but the younger three brothers were.
Dad talked about the Mogumber Methodist Mission, where he was taken, being hard work. Loading It was, however, run by good people. The violence and abuse you hear about didn’t really happen there, it’s just that they enforced a racist policy.
Dad had a.