Telling Our Stories

Sue

For the 2013 Archibald Exhibition, Artist Anne Wallace submitted a portrait of Sue Treweek. Sue is a Forgotten Australian. She shares her story of growing up in institutionalised care, the trauma she endured and how she has persevered to get to where she is today. Anne shares the impact of first hearing Sue’s story and how the trust between these women brought about this powerful portrait.

Read Sue's story

Colleen

Colleen is an artist working primarily in photography, painting and ceramics. Colleen’s work is frequently inspired by scenes in nature such as flowers, trees, grass and water. These forms are often partially abstracted, turning into a series of bright, colourful patterns. She also utilises text and symbols to convey themes of peace, love and joy (Information sourced from Acess Arts Web Page)

Bryan

“When I was 16 I was told I was going to a nice farm to work. But the police met me at Roma Street Station and took me to Westbrook Detention Centre.”

Bryan is one of 22 people who share their stories in the book 'Creating Homes, Lives Changing'.

Read Bryan's story

Ruby

“I was born in Charleville, outback. Dad was an Aboriginal drover, Mum a drover’s cook. When my grandmother died my mum couldn’t look after us and we got put with family or institutions.”

Ruby is one of 22 people who share their stories in the book 'Creating Homes, Lives Changing'.

Read Ruby's story

Joe

Joe is our Lotus Place Librarian and has been looking after our small collection of books which are available for borrowing.

Joe remembers his excitement at discovering the adventurous stories in the Grade 3 Reader. His imagination was fired by the memories of his teachers, Sr Mary Aloysius who read stories to the class every Friday afternoon in Grades four and five and Sr Matthias who taught scholarship class in Grade Seven. One of the books that Joe recalls vividly from that era is We of the Never Never.

Patty

Patty is now able to keep in touch with members of her family and friends by using Facebook. Every day when Patty comes into Lotus Place she logs onto a computer and checks messages and photos that have been added to her Facebook page.

Patty has a brother, Richard who lives in Western Australia and by using Facebook she is able to plan a trip to visit him next month. Patty loves showing others in the computer lounge photos of her family. Her favourite photos are those of her brother in his police uniform.

Danny

My name is Danny and I am a Forgotten Australian. I work in the community and I am a subcontractor for Brisbane City Council and it is my job to look after local parks and gardens. I find it enjoyable working in the community and being helpful to others.

I am on the board of a local community organisation and make decisions governing the running of the organisation.

I would like to encourage other Forgotten Australians like myself, to get into their community and become a part of what’s going on around them. I reckon if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything you want in life.

Colin

After a long and steady career, Colin suddenly found himself unemployed due to the global economic downturn. He found it challenging to get back into the workforce. Colin spent many hours at Lotus Place focusing on updating his skills through training opportunities, learning to use the computers and email, searching the web and networking, all in order to secure himself a job that he actually liked and made use of his skills. He was successful in changing his career to an area he is not only passionate about but in which he excels. Colin is now employed as a Traffic Controller.