WHEN Deb Wilkes talks about her PhD, she doesn’t hesitate.

“I think it’s critical. I don’t think we can have reconciliation without truth telling.”

The newly inducted WA Women’s Hall of Fame member is currently doing a PhD on truth telling, building a “best practice framework” from an Aboriginal perspective for councils and companies to adopt.

The Perth resident has more than 20 years experience in local government and even more in grassroots community work, much of it in regional and remote Western Australia.

“I wanted to create a framework, because local governments are often the first place community go to to talk about truth telling,” she said.

“When I asked the question ‘where’s the best practice framework for how we do this’, there wasn’t one.

“So that’s what I’m creating, in the hope that that will help local government and help community and we can move together towards reconciliation.”

Ms Wilkes said reconciliation was not straightforward.

“I don’t think it’s a linear journey. And I don’t think it’s a journey where everybody is or even needs to be in the same place at the same time.”

One of the pivotal moments that shaped her academic path came while working at the Shire of Pinjarra, in conversations with a Binjareb elder about their reluctance to step foot in the local shire’s offices.

“When I asked why, I was told the story about the Shire referring to the massacre site as the Battle of Pinjarra.

“The local Binjareb people did not see it that way, because all but one person was massacred.

“It was primarily women and children who were attacked by the soldiers.”

Ms Wilkes said the hurt was palpable.

“So the signage was frequently damaged, defaced, destroyed, removed, and when I opened this conversation, it was a real a real hurt that was being carried.”

After workshops with local families, a compromise saw dual signage erected.

That process eventually led to the removal of the “Battle of Pinjarra” signage and a recent groundbreaking formal apology from WA premier Roger Cook.

It was also one of the catalysts for her doctoral research.

Another was the so-called ‘lock hospital’ on Bernier and Dorre Islands off Carnarvon.

“It’s another story that not many people are aware of, where 800 men and women were taken from across Western Australia, usually in neck chains, to Carnarvon and then taken on boats over to Bernier and Dorre Islands.

“And it’s recorded that at least 200 people died on the islands, and they were medically and surgically experimented on.”

Ms Wilkes later discovered her own great grandparents had been taken there.

“That was an incredibly complex situation for me, because I was in my 40s when I found out that my grandfather was an Aboriginal man.”

“My grandmother had lied about my grandfather’s heritage to protect my mum.”

“She sacrificed her reputation to protect my mum and to protect us.”

Her first trip to the islands, was a visceral experience.

“The moment I stepped off the boat and put my feet on the islands, I just burst into historical, ugly, hysterical, ugly sobbing, crying.

“I turned to this particular cultural man, and I said to him, ‘my family’s here, isn’t it?’”

“And he said, ‘Yes’, and I just instantly knew that that’s where my great grandparents were.”

Ms Wilkes says truth telling is about respect and visibility, and having worked with children as her focus, she says an age-appropriate introduction is important.

“My personal approach to any of this stuff is that you always tell the truth gently, no matter what that truth is.”

Her aim is practical as well as philosophical.

“So what I want with creating my framework is that I want to create a simple process that local government can go through.

“It won’t just apply to Aboriginal truth telling, which is what my focus is, but I hope that once it’s published, it’s going to be applicable to any form of truth telling.”

by STEVE GRANT