Stolen Generation Advocate Aunty Rhonda Uses Art to Heal

For Yamatji-Noongar woman Aunty Rhonda Collard-Spratt, stories are more than books. They are healing, memory, and voice.

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As a survivor of the Stolen Generations and the author of Brave Young Eagle, Aunty Rhonda has made it her life’s work to reconnect to culture and help others do the same.

One of her earlier books, Alice’s Daughter, deals with her father’s death in custody – one of the first to be investigated as part of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody – exploring Rhonda’s search for culture and family in the face of marginalisation.

“I’ve had a lot of healing since I first wrote Alice’s Daughter,” Aunty Rhonda told Hope 103.2.

As a survivor of the Stolen Generations, Aunty Rhonda has made it her life’s work to reconnect to culture and help others do the same.

Together with other children brought up in the same colonial mission, Aunty Rhonda goes on “healing camps”.

“It’s been very good for my heart and spirit. It’s like my medicine,” she said.

Now 74, Aunty Rhonda reflects on growing up without love after being taken from her family at age three.

“No one hugged me from three years old to 21,” Aunty Rhonda said.

Brave Young Eagle weaves experiences of disconnection from Indigenous roots into the story of a baby wedge-tailed eagle raised by zebra finches.

“So I got my strength from Mother Nature. I’d hug the gum tree. That was my safe place.”

In Brave Young Eagle, Aunty Rhonda weaves her experiences of disconnection from her Indigenous roots into the story of Walgathu, a baby wedge-tailed eagle who falls from his nest and is raised by zebra finches.

“[Brave Young Eagle] is about reconnecting to our people, to our country, to what makes us strong in our heart and spirit,” Aunty Rhonda said.

In keeping with this year’s NAIDOC Week theme of looking toward the next generation and honouring legacy, Aunty Rhonda’s work is both a tribute to those who came before and a gift to those who follow.

Aunty Rhonda’s Brave Young Eagle is out now.

“We need to tell our young people that they do matter,” Aunty Rhonda said. “There is a future for them.”

While her art and writing are deeply personal, Aunty Rhonda also sees them as part of a bigger movement for healing and truth-telling.

“We must be the voice for the voiceless,” Aunty Rhonda said.

“Speak up, not from anger, but from love.”

Aunty Rhonda’s Brave Young Eagle is out now.

Feature image: Supplied (Booralong Press)