2011 - Theses - Flinders University

White Lives in a Black Community: The lives of Jim Page and Rebecca Forbes in the Adnyamathanha communityTracy SpencerVolume One Creative Writing Component: Excerpted Chapters from Volume Three Appendix Oneeven considering that she was a white woman and her husband and her boys were little bitdifferent to her. She was a person like that.…Yes, yes there was a challenge. I know at that time when she was telling me all this Iwas thinking ‘Oh goodness!’ The thought came to me ‘You’re a very special person. 206Clara remembers Mrs Forbes having a beautiful rocking chair, with tapestry upholstering onthe back, and an old trunk in which she kept her treasures. One day she pulled out a tinypistol from the trunk to show to Clara. It was no bigger than a toy. Another time she told herabout how she hurried women along when they gave birth, standing up holding onto a table,to force the birth. The old lady’s graphic descriptions scared the young woman. But MrsForbes carried on, regardless, reveling in a rare audience for the tales and stories she kept inher head, of the journey that had delivered her into this close, dark home in Adnyamathanhayarta.Nepabunna, March 1948Clara has tidied away their tea things, to save Mrs Forbes the bother, and is preparing to leaveand return to the chores Mrs Eaton will have waiting for her by now. Mrs Forbes watches theyoung woman, grateful for her efficient kindnesses.‘Those yakarties were throwing rocks on my roof again, and tell them I know who theyare. They’ll be getting a hiding, by and by.’ Mrs Forbes frowns a little. The rocks scare her,breaking her silence, and she does not like to open the door these days to see the culprits. Shecannot remember the names of many of the youngsters now; and often as not their parents areaway working, anyway. There are less than forty adults in the camp now, and maybe thirtychildren that Clara tries to teach. It is not like the old days.144