This is a letter to Anne, who was a guest on The Drum (15 October). I can’t tell you how dreadful I felt to hear how people treat you and the abuse you have to put up with. I voted ‘Yes’ for the referendum. I live in the area known as Franklin in Tasmania. There is a town but it is also one of the electorates down here. It was the electorate that came up as being the first ‘Yes’ vote.
We are 60 kms from Hobart. There was also a pocket of Hobart that also voted ‘Yes’. I can’t put myself in your shoes to know how you and your mob must be feeling, but as a white woman in my 70s, I feel devastated. After all these years I had felt confident that at last something was going to happen.
At the age of 22 I went to live in Darwin. I had just spent six months in Port Moresby. I had my eyes opened to the injustices of the Aboriginal people up there and was sad at what I saw. I’ve had my eyes opened to the plight of the Palawa people since moving to Tasmania and how they were treated when colonialism took over here.
I am a retired registered nurse who worked in mental health before retiring to Tasmania and now I attend university to help keep my mind active. Please accept my apologies for all those people who did not vote ‘Yes’. The Aboriginal people deserve better.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
