I VIVIDLY RECALL how I felt in the middle of 1984, the moment my father came home from work and announced we were going to be leaving Albany and moving to Northam. Albany is on the south coast of Western Australia, the jewel of Minang territory. Northam is in the heart of the WA Wheatbelt in Nyaki-Nyaki country. Dad worked for Elders WA as a stock agent. He was a loyal and proud company man. He even drank Fosters because Elders owned Carlton & United Breweries, which made the beer. In parochial and staunch Swan Lager heartland, to sup on eastern states’ muck was nothing short of sacrilegious. It could poison you. 

I loved Albany. I loved my friends there. I loved the high school. I loved its quirky meteorological rhythms. I was socially at ease and fitted in. I loved Albany’s squeaking white beaches. I had just learnt how to surf… I could go on.