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How Betsy’s troubled upbringing sparked Indigenous advocacy

Dr Betsy (House) Buchanan (1965) has a swathe of awards behind her, most for her tireless work with First Nations people. But there's a fascinating backstory to those awards … a story that started with her troubled childhood as a farm girl and eventually led to a lifelong bond with the local Noongar people. Perth College, too, played a huge role in helping shape this remarkable Old Girl.

On the face of it, Betsy lived a privileged life. Her father was a Country Party member of Parliament and a celebrated war veteran.

She grew up on a farm in Gnowangerup with her parents, an older brother and two younger sisters. But behind the farm gate things were bad.

"Mum was incredibly, incredibly disturbed, she used to abuse us terribly,” Betsy says. She said her mother (who served as an Air Force nurse during the war) had Munchausen syndrome by proxy … a mental illness that manifests in a form of child abuse, where (most often) a mother either makes up symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is ill.

It’s heartbreaking to hear Betsy say, "I never doubted she hated us.”

Like many farmers in Gnowangerup at the time, the family relied on the local Indigenous community for labour … and that’s where Betsy’s childhood salvation came from.

“The Noongar women who lived across on the reserve used to come and be my nannies for about four years. I think they sort of saved me from the cruelty and abuse and rejection,” Betsy says matter-offactly. "They would take me on long walks and get me out of the firing line. I developed a very deep, subconscious bond with them. And they have such a rich culture, they would talk to me and tell me their stories.”

Betsy says she can still recall those stories vividly and believes that’s what sparked her love of literature. She also recalls how unfairly the Noongar people were treated, being forced to live in crowded huts with no running water or electricity, and she’s haunted by memories of the children being forcibly removed from their families.

But at 12, Betsy’s life changed radically when she was sent to boarding school, a place she describes as “heaven”.

"Perth College helped me incredibly because it was away from my mother for a start and I also liked the structure. It helped me mentally and also the Sisters of the Church, I really admired them,” Betsy says. "Sister Shirley encouraged me to take a path academically. Perth College was a tremendous help.” Sister Shirley’s nurturing paid off. Betsy studied law at the University of WA and then worked in the Crown Solicitor's Office but left to volunteer

as a legal and social welfare advocate for Aboriginal people. Dr Buchanan and her late husband David established WA’s first Community Law Centre in 1976 and she committed herself to work as a volunteer as reparation to the Noongar people she’d grown up with.

She and David lived simply … with no holidays or cars, but Betsy maintains it wasn’t a sacrifice.

"If you think that I was suicidal and had no self-esteem, well then I think what they (the Noongar community) have given me is huge." This Old Girl, who also has a degree in comparative literature, adds that PC and her favourite literature teacher Mrs Lynne remained strongly supportive of her work long after she'd left school.

"We were doing something with such marginalised people. We got a huge amount of flak, as you can imagine, but Perth College was always unfailingly supportive." Since then Betsy has worked on cases involving housing evictions, the Handicapped Children's Allowance, the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody and she prepared nearly 1,000 submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse.

Sadly, Betsy’s husband David passed away recently. “I’m sure I would have taken my own life if I hadn’t met him,” she says. “He was a social worker and had a very good grasp of what was wrong.” For now, Betsy says she’ll continue to volunteer at the Daydawn Advocacy Centre offering legal and welfare assistance. When I ask Betsy if she is proud, she ponders and says, "I don’t suppose so, I think my self-esteem is too damaged. I’m pleased if I can be of some use.”

I tell her she has been of tremendous “use” and I reel off just some of her accolades. In 2017 Betsy was inducted into the WA Women's Hall of Fame and last year she was awarded the Order of Australia. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by a London University for her volunteer work with First Nations people and we’re also proud to note she was Old Girl of the Year in 1982, also for her charity efforts.

But there are three things that put a sparkle in Betsy’s eyes … receiving the distinguished Non-Indigenous Award from NAIDOC in 2000 and winning a case to allow the first Indigenous woman the right to a war veterans widow’s pension. Her proudest moment though was when she was made an honorary Noongar two years ago. "That's in incredible privilege that I am absolutely proud of because it was the people from Gnowangerup who organised it,” Betsy says. “I think it shows their incredible character. They couldn’t have done anything more beautiful than that."

Betsy, sincerely, we couldn’t be more proud of you. You are a truly remarkable woman.