We’d like to acknowledge that earlier versions of some parts of this book were first published in The Big Issue and the Australian Indigenous Law Review.
We want to thank Rebecca’s family. Firstly, to her nieces and nephews Belinda, Brian, Michael and Samantha and their partners, and the great-nieces Madlyn, Ashley and Jorja, thank you for the continuous love and support you gave Diana. You brought her great joy. And to her brothers Paul and David and their families, who from afar gave us great encouragement: Diana loved you deeply.
Tony’s family was always only a phone call, email or plane trip away. Some of you even made it up to visit. Thank you for your unconditional love.
There are of course our daughters, Georgina and Lucille, whose unselfishness and understanding gave us the freedom to do what we felt we needed to do. Thank you for keeping us current and don’t worry – your turn will come.
Thank you to Diana’s crew at St James the Great Anglican Church, Legacy Mount Isa, and the staff from the community health centre bus. Special thanks to Beryl, Susan, Betty, Marj, Marlene, Barbara, Val, Ash, Sara and Heather. You made Diana’s life rich and rewarding.
Then there is the legion of friends – new ones in Mount Isa who made us welcome and old ones from all over the country who were never far from our thoughts and who sent us messages, lent us their ear and on many occasions gave us meals and beds and made sure we never doubted this was the right thing to do.
All of you made it possible.
For this book, we’d like to thank everyone at UQP for taking a punt on two relatively unknown writers on this not-so-straight-forward two-handed project. Special thanks to Alexandra Payne for her initial belief and to Madonna Duffy, Cathy Vallance and Julian Welch for their deft guidance and ongoing encouragement.
We also want to thank each other for the willingness to give it a go and especially for the love.