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Stolen forever: Tamara, 14, gives dead mother's speech

25 May 2005 - Tamara Jacobs speaking in place of her mother Christine at the National Healing Day launch in Canberra today.

Fighting back tears, 14-year-old Tamara Jacobs today delivered a speech at Parliament House in place of her mother, who was killed last night.

Tamara had watched as ambulance officers in Canberra tried to revive her dying mother Christine, who had been hit by a car while out for a walk.

Christine Jacobs had been due this morning to deliver the opening address to this year's National Day of Healing, telling of her experiences as a member of the stolen generation of Aboriginal children.

Following Mrs Jacobs' death, organisers had wanted to call off the launch in Parliament House's imposing Great Hall.

But Tamara insisted it go ahead.

Struggling against tears, she read her mother's speech, which detailed the abuse Mrs Jacobs had endured as a child in foster homes and her early hatred of white people.

Tamara also revealed her mother's devotion to her children.

"My kids spoke to me from a photo and I realised I had three very important reasons to live," Mrs Jacobs' speech said.

"Although I had all this happen to me, I don't feel bitter and I don't hate white people anymore or blame the government.

Tamara and her mother, an Aboriginal officer at Sevenoaks College in Perth, had arrived in Canberra days before the launch.

Their travel had been paid for by a fundraising drive at the college and it was their first plane trip out of Perth.

They were staying with friends in suburban Deakin when Mrs Jacobs, aged in her 40s, decided to go for an early evening walk.

Moments later, her friends heard a squeal of brakes.

Rushing outside, they found Mrs Jacobs had been hit by a car.

Two doctors passing by from nearby Canberra Hospital stopped to help, but Mrs Jacobs was dead on arrival at hospital.

Tamara opened her emotional address today by thanking ambulance workers for trying to save her mother's life.

Her mother's speech told of being taken from her family when just two years old and placed in foster homes.

In early adulthood, she had turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with her problems.

But in recent years her life had turned around.

Mrs Jacobs said she had forgiven the government and her abusers, and was focused on her family and promoting reconciliation.

Australian Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway paid tribute to Tamara's bravery in continuing with the launch.

"It's an inspiration, the courage, I think, that Tamara has shown, that she wanted us to go ahead and she wanted us to provide an opportunity for her mother's voice to continue to be heard," he said.

Senator Ridgeway said Mrs Jacobs would be remembered as a powerful woman, with a passion for reconciliation.

"I think in many ways that in telling her story in this way, she's tragically, I think, made the ultimate sacrifice to what the journey of healing is about, what reconciliation's about," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard said Mrs Jacobs' death was a "heartbreaking event".

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley offered his condolences to Mrs Jacobs' family and friends, and added: "Her daughter Tamara very courageously spoke on her behalf this morning."

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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