SISTER KATE INSPIRED A LEGEND
Polly. It’s all been said and written about Graham Farmer.
Pretty handy with his left foot, better with his left hand. However, much more important than being a great footballer or great anything, is being a great person.
Polly was.
My late aunt Lil told me so after staying at a motel Polly and wife Marlene ran in South Perth. “Nicest man I’ve met,” Lil said.
I could relate various personal stories about Polly from my time at The Sunday Times, but I won’t. This is not about me, it’s not really even about Polly.
It’s about a lady I never met. A lady who cared for Polly and many other Aboriginal kids — Sister Kate (Clutterbuck), who in the mid-1930s moved from the Children’s Cottage Home in Cottesloe to Queens Park with Aboriginal children.
The home was funded by the Aborigines Department and the focus was on “fair-skinned” Aboriginal children who may otherwise never have been given a chance.
Farmer went there when he was a toddler. He credited Sister Kate and her team at the orphanage for giving him and others an education and a chance in life.
Whether it’s past or present, we all know — or should find — a person like Sister Kate. And maybe it’s time we showed a bit more TLC towards them and recognise what they do.
And maybe it’s time we became more like them.
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