When Ros Sten was a child growing up in North Lismore, she would ask her grandmother lots of questions. 

As she listened to her grandmother’s stories, Ros found out more about her Aboriginal heritage and who she was. 

As she grew older, Ros developed a thirst for learning and a passion for family history research that would eventually take her on a path toward helping other Aboriginal people through education and advocacy.

After spending 10 years as an educator, supporting students at TAFE, the Bundjalung Elder joined the local police as an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO) in 2010. 

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First Widjabul woman ACLO

Ros was the first local Widjabul Aboriginal woman to take up a position in the Richmond Local Area Command and works with other local ACLOs in the Crime Management Unit (CMU).

“We are the front line, the connection between the police and the community,” Ros said. 

“We support the police in policing and the community in understanding. I sometimes go into the cells and talk to the people in there and talk to their families. 

“The police also ask us for advice on how to speak to community members and I’m impressed with the way they do business.”

Ros has also played an important role on the Council of Bundjalung Elders and she sees her ACLO role as important in helping to break down the barriers between the police and the Aboriginal community.

Community link

“These jobs are a vital link with community,” Ros said. “If we are open and accessible to the communities, we can help families and know what’s going on.

“It’s a diverse job and involves a lot of trust. Now that I am here, I can deal with local women’s issues; that hasn’t been done before… and there is a high representation of women here.”

Ros believes that having ACLOs in the police force is a positive cultural shift, showing that Aboriginal culture is being acknowledged and identified. 

She would like to see more ACLO positions in the future, including Aboriginal women of different ages, and believes that having locals doing the job is essential to providing effective support to local Aboriginal communities.

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Empathy and passion

“To do the job, you need to have empathy and passion,” Ros said. 

“It’s important not to judge people and to understand people make mistakes; we all make mistakes, but it should never take away our right to improve.

“For young people today, it’s hard as there is a great deal of expectation on them… and there are a lot of single mums. 

“We need to educate ourselves and take the opportunities we can. If I can achieve the things I’ve done coming from the background I come from, then anyone can do it. ‘

“It takes guts and determination and a sense of worth.”

History

Ros grew up in Lismore during an era prior to the 1967 Referendum, when Aboriginal people did not have the rights and freedoms they do today. 

She grew up in a religious family, with 16 children (including five cousins), all living under the restrictions and controls of the Aborigines Protection Board.

Her father was in the army, travelled a lot and was rarely home, so Ros “grew up in a wonderful world of women, aunties and cousins”.

“My mother, Margaret Felton, ran a tight household and we always had a clean house. 

“The welfare workers from the Protection Board would often show up at our house and check to see that we had sheets on the bed and that no dust was gathering anywhere. 

“I didn’t have a youth or teenage years with freedom like people expect today. I would always be looking after the kids or cleaning, with lots of responsibilities in a large family.”

Albert Park School

Ros remembers going to Albert Park School, where she and the other Aboriginal children at school were made to take showers and had their hair checked for lice with paddle pop sticks.

“The Aboriginal kids were all put into one class… it wasn’t until I was older I realised they had put us in a special class for people with learning disabilities, when we didn’t actually have learning disabilities.

“The best thing they did though was to keep us together. 

“We stuck together, learned off each other and our culture did not die. We often got into trouble for using lingo at school… back then, people could lose their kids for not speaking English.”

When Ros went to Richmond River High School there were few Aboriginal people at the school and only four girls in her class.

Lingo

“It was hard because I’d come from a world of women and I didn’t understand the teacher’s lingo,” Ros said.

“We used Aboriginal words at home, so I listened to learn English and would ask my girlfriends what the words meant.

“I didn’t grow up in a white world, I grew up in a black world and we were not accepted by society.”

Ros left school at 15 to work in a clothing factory in South Lismore and hated it.

“Coming from a family of 16 children, my parents had no money for me to do the HSC. I made my decision then and promised myself I would go back to school.”

Marriage

It wasn’t until after Ros married Graham Sten from South Lismore, had three children and travelled around Australia with Graham, who was in the Air Force, that she finally found herself back in school at Lismore TAFE in 1993.

“I moved back to Lismore and one of my cousins turned up on my doorstep one day and told me I was starting at TAFE at 9am on Monday morning,” Ros said.

“She was a strong woman; I was terrified, but it was to change my life.”

Ros successfully studied for her Year 10 school certificate and then went on to get qualifications in business management, business governance and training.

“I wanted what had been denied to me; I loved learning and now had an opportunity to do it,” Ros said. 

“I had a great English teacher at TAFE who taught me the value of learning.

"He was respectful and knew the protocols and style of learning that worked with Aboriginal people. He encouraged us and told us that we could have whatever we wanted out of life.”

University

Ros became a passionate student and went on to Southern Cross University to study a Bachelor of Indigenous Studies.

“If somebody years ago had said to me I would go to uni, I wouldn’t have believed them,” Ros said. 

“I loved research, gaining clarity and understanding. Everything I’ve done has a flavour of Aboriginal history, my own and my community’s history.

“I need to be who I am. I want to know who I am and share my cultural knowledge and extend that so people know who they are.”

TAFE and identity

Ros began working at Lismore TAFE in 2000, and began passing on her love of learning to other Aboriginal people and helping them make it through their course work.

“I taught Aboriginal people about identity – I loved teaching and was passionate about it,” Ros said. “I see so much beauty in young people. 

“They are getting cleverer. I tell them to keep on the path and dream the dream; you are responsible for your own life. 

“It’s our own personal responsibility to close the gap. Take your opportunities and don’t put a time limit on it. One step at a time, every day.”

Family tree

Ros’s biggest passion in her life is family history research. 

She has researched her family tree back to her great, great grandmother Mary Kapeen who, according to Ros, lived on land in Lismore that Mr Wilson, one of the first white graziers in the area, settled on when he arrived.

“Mary then worked for him and was eventually buried on that property,” Ros s

Family is important to Ros and she is passionate about helping Aboriginal people learn more about their culture.

“It’s important to explain to young people who they are, so that they know,” Ros said.

Culture

Later this year, Ros will be contributing some of her family pictures to a Lismore City Council project to help create local history information panels, as part of the redevelopment of the Lismore Visitor Information Centre.

When asked about the Aboriginal cultural tradition where people are not supposed to speak the names of those who have passed on, Ros believes it’s important to not forget the people you have loved.

Grief

“There is a grief period after someone has passed on and you don’t want to talk about them, but it’s important not to block out that person,” Ros said.

“We can’t afford to use the grief process to forget them; we need to keep their memory alive, but we need to respect the right of people to go through their own personal journey.”

For Ros, it is the women in her life who have been her most inspirational role models.

Inspiration

“My grandmother and my mother were my inspiration for being strong,” Ros said.

“Our women were always controlled by white men, but women are the nurturers and the strong leaders in our community; we have resilience and haven’t forgotten ways to stay strong,” she said. 

“My life started out under colonisation but now it’s not under that control. 

“Me and my sisters are making the next steps in history to improve the status of Aboriginal women… and make choices to benefit the continuance of Aboriginal culture.”