She loves pretty things and knows how to wear them

Abstract

Del’s story is an indictment of the authorities’ attitude and behaviour towards the girls in their charge. Yet publishing her story requires an alertness to the position of Aboriginal people today. As Ming would come to realize, Del was repeatedly interrogated, compelled to give evidence that was then turned against her and used to consolidate and perpetuate her victimization. She was in a position in which colonized and enslaved people find themselves throughout history to the present day, and her story can be ‘heard’ in different and not altogether sympathetic ways even now. Del was caught between the need to tell her story in order to seek justice and the framework of dominance in which her telling took place.