A Movement
from the Heart
WORDS: THOMAS MAYOR (AS TOLD TO NATHAN SCOLARO)
IMAGE: JAMES WITHERS HUNT
wasbornandbredonLarrakiacountry,which
isDarwin.Myfatherisa TorresStraitIslander.
HemovedfromThursdayIslandtotheNorthern
Territorywhenhewas 17 yearsoldtoworkatFrances
CreekMine.TorresStraitIslanderswerefamous
fortheirworkethic.TheybuiltthePilbararailwayin
worldrecordtime.Mydadwasfromthatgeneration
ofIslanders,a reallyhardworker.Hefellinlove
withmymotherintheNTandendedupstaying
there.Mymother’sfatherwasa Polishrefugee.
SoI grewupinDarwin,andI becamea wharfiewhen
I was 17 yearsold.That’swhereI reallylearnedabout
unityandtheimportanceofstructurebehinda union.
WhenI was20,the’98Patricksdisputehappened.I was
drivingtoworkonemorningandheardontheradiothat
we’dallbeensacked.It wasa hugelearningcurvefor
meseeinghowthegovernmentcolludedwithPatricks
tode-unioniseus,totakeawayourstrengthandthen
attackourpayandconditions.It wasprettyshocking
fora youngfellathathadn’tbeenonthewharfforvery
long.Butwesurvived,partlybecauseofthesolidarity
fromthecommunity.Wehadthatsolidaritybecauseour
unionhadbeengreatsupportersofmanysocialjustice
struggles.Wefoughtformorethanjustourownwages
andconditions,weusedourmuscletohelpothers—like
withthegreatGurindjiWalk-Off,andsupportingthe
EastTimoresewhentheywerebeinginvaded.During
theapartheidstruggle,ourseafarersputa banonships
thatwerecarryingoiltoSouthAfricatoputpressure
onthem.Beinga partoftheunionmovementinspired
me.I wasa reallyshyguy,stillam.Butallofthiswas
teachingmetostandupandspeakoutagainstinjustice.
LaterI becamethepresidentoftheTradesandLabour
Council,thebigbodyintheNorthernTerritorythat
mostoftheunionsareaffiliatedwith.I putmoreenergy
intocommunitywork,andgotclosertotherootsof
certainissuesourpeoplewerefacing,liketheWA
communityclosures.I gotbehindthatinDarwinand
organisedoneofthebiggestralliesthatwe’dhadina
longtime.I helpedorganisethecommunityresponse
tothetreatmentofyouthindetentionatDonDale.
Iorganised a forum for our people and our organisations
in Darwin to talk about how we could be more effective
at fighting all these detrimental decisions. Those early
days I was really nervous and unsure of myself. Then I
found things I just couldn’t ignore. It was like I couldn’t
not speak out about the injustices. In the absence of
other leadership, sometimes you just have to step
up and do it. It wasn’t something I planned to do.
I was then invited to be a facilitator of a regional dialogue
about constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people. I accepted, and I learned of the
long discussion around constitutional recognition that
had been happening in this country. For about 10 years,
people like Tony Abbott and John Howard had talked
about recognising Indigenous people in a preamble to
the constitution, but they never engaged us in a proper
process to learn our collective views. I learned that
because of a national push from our people, we had won
a process run by Indigenous people to finally do that.
The regional dialogue in Darwin was one of 13 dialogues
throughout the country in that process, each were being
done over three days. They were well informed. There
were lessons about the history of our struggle. Rachel
Perkins, a filmmaker, did a 20-minute film that took us
through the history of our struggle from colonisation
to the many different moments of our history where
we demanded change. We also learned about the
constitution, how it works, and the political system.
I asked elders if there’d even been an opportunity
like this before—for a rigorous national dialogue that
would culminate at a sacred place like Uluru—and the
answer was no. As a unionist I understood that these
dialogues gave us the opportunity to discuss and
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