Amy Toensing

Lily Karadada was born 89 years ago in the bush, where she grew up naked, living off the land, in the same way her ancestors had for the previous 40 000 years. I met her five years ago while on an unrelated assignment in Australia for National Geographic magazine, and it was Lily who sparked my interest to return and tell this story.

As an Aborigine, Lily’s place in society has been distinctly different from her non-indigenous counterparts. Her generation has lived through massacres, seen ancestral land stolen, been subjected to relocations and government policies that controlled their movements, who they married, where they worked and even took their children. It was not until Lily was 41 years old, in 1962, that her people were given the right to vote. Today Lily lives in a rectangular, cinderblock house with a cement floor, built by the government, in the community of Kalumburu where unemployment is over 85%.

Over recent years, I have made multiple trips to Aboriginal Australia. I have photographed government communities, lived with individuals on their ancestral homelands and explored population centers such as Alice Springs, the “Indigenous capital” of Australia. Throughout the journey, I have witnessed sharp contrasts of struggle and strength: from inadequate housing conditions and addiction in towns and government communities to Aboriginal homelands where families manage and care for their own land, both physically and spiritually.