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A local bureaucrat who has spent her whole career bouncing between both Government and not-for-profit organisations within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sector has today made it clear that it’s okay if you want to pretend she is a blackfulla.
In fact, Janette even introduces herself as Aunty Janny to new clients and employees and quite often makes the ‘aahhh’ sound that blackfellas make after they crack a joke.
“People round here just call me Aunty Janny!” she says, while introducing herself to a new entry level employee who actually is black.
“Whose ya mob love?” she asks, with baited breath waiting to see if she can rattle off any names of relatives.
Despite the fact that her job exists purely another level of administrative padding between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, Janette Wyatt (55) relishes in her exposure and occasional invitation into the culture of First Nations people.
“Be careful of these gammon whitefullas next door. Always taking our parks” she says.
Like many caucasian people employed in made up administrative roles within Aboriginal organisations without any cross-cultural familiarity other than the fact that they are comfortable with saying ‘deadly’ quite colloquially, Janette very rarely clarifies that she actually isn’t black, and when she does, she then makes a point of emphasising her rural upbringing and how she’s basically been “brought up with blackfellas”.
“I grew up out Maleny way” she says, in reference to her Scottish-like hinterland hometown.
“They Gubbi Gubbi mob out there”
