In memoriam Lisa Bellear

I had the great fortune, in my life, to know writer and Aboriginal activist Lisa Bellear.
Lisa died two days ago, in her sleep, causes - as yet - unknown. She was 45. Lisa was a stolen child, a child written off by the powers that be in her youth as an automatic failure... yet a woman of many gifts, a lover of cricket and of life. She struggled to achieve and make a difference all her days. A skilled writer, she published a book of poetry, Dreaming in Urban Areas with University of Queensland Press. She also graduated in Social Work from Melbourne University and worked for Radio 3CR, running popular interview segment Not Another Koori Show. She made a difference, something hard to do in these days of cynicism.

My enduring memory of Lisa is seeing her working the crowd at a local comedy night. Her terrible personal history in hand, she went about making a mostly white, middle class audience laugh at themselves and their suppositions. Then watching her afterwards try to hail a taxi... none would stop until a couple of us went outside and stood with her. Then we were just a few girls out on the town. Then all was okay. And we got home all right.

Like me, Lisa was a country person, someone who had a gift for the Australian vernacular, who was a great talker. She was one who treasured the experiences of those who did not have the power to speak for themselves. Like many of Australia's black people, she died young, but I think her legacy will live on. I'll leave you with one of her poems, a personal favourite of mine.

Hanover Street Brunswick 3056
(On a bright sunny afternoon)

Cruisin' - on my way with a keen
sense of purpose: milk (full cream),
toasting bread, cigarettes, papers
...a woman's day

Sensor rays connect with a thirty
centimetre 'white' child who sits
joyously on a three-wheeled
plastic bike

I feel safe enough to share
my smile

As we check each other over
with carefree knowing smiles -
his parents raise their heads
through the pruned rose bush

In twenty years time will
he remember this warrior woman?
I wonder