Fiona Foley Carving out her own space
“We know family stories… and we know our ties to Country to be true”
Fiona Foley says Australia’s history of brutality doesn’t surprise her as much anymore. But it ‘has been a burning question for me since I was a child of about five, sitting on the beach at Urangan looking across to Fraser Island, thinking, “Why aren’t there any old people living over there now?”.’
During our conversation in December last year, Foley describes an inability to ‘get close to any kind of history’ that resonates loud and clear with my own experience. As Aboriginal people we know family stories, we know cultural lore and we know our ties to Country to be