My Dad, George Nona by Robyne Nona

My Dad, George Nona

Robyne Nona | Year 8

My dad, George Nona, is a proud Torres Strait Islander. He is 45 years old and is a biosecurity officer in the main office on Thursday island. Growing up for him was a bit difficult. He grew up on Badu island, Torres Strait, with six siblings. When he remembers his childhood, he describes a very hard life without electricity, a shower, fridge or freezer, and relying on a septic toilet and gas stove. Despite these hardships, they were very family-orientated and always together. School was a struggle in his junior studies because he was fluent in his traditional language and used it every day on the island. This made it very hard for him to learn in English. For high school, he had to move away from his island home, something he considers as one of the major obstacles he has overcome in his life. ‘I was always in the lower classes as they did with schools back in my day, separating the smart ones and the not-so-smart ones. My report cards always came out in the sound/limited marks range. Because of those marks, after I finished my senior studies, I then motivated myself to beat those marks and be successful,’ he says. ‘Because of this motivation, I applied for a traineeship with Australian Customs and Border Protection. I didn’t really know what they did but getting the traineeship made me feel at home because of the nonIndigenous staff who were so supportive in helping me out, as I found it very hard to speak English amongst them. One thing I promised myself when I did my traineeship was that I would do this and this would make a change: if I can do it, then any other Indigenous person can also do it. I commenced the traineeship in 1995, and in 1998, I graduated and was appointed a full-time customs officer. Today, I use my story to motivate others who say to themselves that they are nothing, but my story has changed their course to become successful.’ My dad’s biggest accomplishments were becoming a permanent customs officer, followed by starting a family and marrying his wife. His life story has always motivated him even to a point when he shares it with others. He gets emotional because his journey was very hard, but the results were unexplainable. My father worked primarily in the operations section. He then transferred across to the Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment as a team leader – biosecurity officer. Having only spent three years as a team leader – biosecurity officer, he then applied and was appointed to be the assistant director of the department with over 30 staff members under his leadership. He credits his leadership skills from being a senior pastor of Assemblies of God Church on Thursday Island. He then recruited more Indigenous people into the department and also encouraged and assisted others to find employment. Coming from a lifestyle of not having much on the table to eat and having very limited English and low marks on his report card, my father always appreciated the struggles of his parents who tirelessly attempted to work only to feed him and his siblings. Overcoming these hurdles has made him push to be who he is today and he’s a strong believer in ‘growing a nobody into a somebody’. Life in the Torres Strait has changed in his lifetime with different leaders having different ideas about changing the former ways to the modern ways of today’s generation. Underneath everything is a way of believing in one another and always working to lift up our people across the Torres Strait.

My father is always ready to share his life story with his children and hopes that his grandchildren will also hear his story and understand how growing up on the island with little English, limited after school activities and no tutors also affected his ability to do well in school. He will leave a legacy for them to follow and then they will pass it on to his grandchildren. The day when he said nothing would stop him from succeeding was the day that determined his future, and the future of his children and his children’s children.