I was named Helen Anne Moran at birth and I was Removed (Stolen) from Condobolin, a country town in Central NSW and raised in an Outer Western Suburb of Sydney named Girraween.
The Government allowed my non-indigenous Foster Parents to change my name to Debra Helen Anne Smith and from that day I was raised as a white person.
I discovered my Abiriginality when I was 18 years of age.
FROM BIRTH
My Mother holding my twin brother and I just days old, my brothers and sister and my father. A very special family photo to welcome the new twin babies in 1958.
I am on a trike in the foreground of this photo. Around me in the photo are my three elder brothers my sister, my cousin with my twin brother in the background. This was taken in 1960, not long before we were removed.
My Family outside Condobolin Courthouse on the day that we were removed in 1960 (Stolen).
My Grandmother (Father's Mother) seen here centre back row, asked her daughter Ruby to bring her Box Brownie Camera to take photos of us. She knew she would never see us again. My Grandmother died died two years later.
In the year of 1960 her husband died and eleven of her Grandchildren were removed (Stolen) under the Australian Policies of Removal of Aboriginal Children. My Aunts believed that she died of a broken heart.
Me at three year of age in 1961, living with my twin brother at our third and final set of Forster Parents home. We were raised in the Outer Western Suburbs of Sydney.
MY LIFE'S PURPOSE
Volunteer Athletics Coach
I always felt from a very young age that my purpose in life and the reason for my presence on this earth is to help children. This began when I was in High School where I volunteered to help train the children in my local Girraween Little Athletics Club.
Volunteer Youth Supporter
As a devorcee and young single mother of daughters, I volunteered for a non for profit youth organisation called 'Operation Runaway'. I decided to become a member of the management committee and was voted in as the Chairwoman.
Me, my ex-husband & my 3 young daughters
OPERATION RUNAWAY CHAIR WOMAN
The goals and purpose of Operation Runaway was to assist homeless young people who were literally living on the streets of Sydney's notorious Kings Cross, to be safely housed.
The teenagers, youth and young adults were offered the chance to have medical reviews and if needed to enter into drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs they also participated in transformative counselling workshops, Tafe & secondary study programs. They were also assisted in entered the work force.
As the novice Chairperson of the new Operation Runaway Association, I pretty much jumped into the deep end, learning and practicing new skills along the way.
These included skills in management, consultation, negotiation advocating, collaboration, leadership and facilitation. I also gaining a wealth of knowledge and exposure to Politicians and Bureaucrats.
The Birth of Operation Runaway
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