Dear Nan Eileen,

I write this open letter to you, our matriarch.

There’s this thing Nan, I don’t know if it existed when you were around, but white women started it, it is called International Women’s Day.

There would have been a day where our women weren’t even considered on this day Nan, but we’ve broken down so many walls over the last few decades and even if whitefulla’s around us don’t celebrate or acknowledge us on this day, we know we matter.

A lot of us mob use the moment to highlight our own women, our matriarchs and as I sit here with a cup of tea beside my laptop, I think about you and how proud I am to be your Granddaughter.

You should see how Blak women are rising Nan, on the frontline leading thousands protesting in the same streets of Naarm you would have once walked, protecting Gunditjmara country, protecting our Djab Wurrung Birthing Trees, raising strong and happy families, our women are creating waves in the music industry whilst simultaneously healing our souls.

I ran a marathon last year Nan, I know you ran it with me. You know, throughout the lead up to the marathon, so many men around us women were telling us the marathon would be the hardest thing we ever do in our lives. I was in New York City Nan and when I was waiting at the start line, I was mentally preparing to meet this thing called ‘hard’.

I remember getting past the 30km mark Nan and I started crying while I was running, I started picturing all my aunties and my sisters back home, one face at a time. I started thinking about Gunditjmara warrior women, I thought of you.

In this moment, I learnt that I wasn’t going to meet a new hard out there, for there is no hard that comes close to the injustices you faced Nan and the continued injustices First Nations women across this country face.

My whole body was covered in goosebumps Nan, I didn’t learn a new hard, but I had a moment of realisation of how strong we must be, we shouldn’t have to be Nan, but we gotta survive this colony somehow hey?

I've been saying the marathon is white man hard Nan, because I learnt that it is. And when they placed that medal around my neck at the finish line, I imagined every single Blak woman in this country with a medal around their neck, because not only do we carry our matriarchy with pride and integrity, but we are also all marathoners in our own right.

Nan, I am often jarred when the outside world mentions that I never got to meet you in person before you left us for the dreaming, they’re wrong Nan. I meet you every single morning when I look myself in the eyes in the mirror. They forget Nan, that I am the living heartbeat of your bloodlines, our bloodlines.

So on this International Women’s Day, I celebrate you Nan, I celebrate us. I celebrate everything you once were, and I thank you for your continued guidance from up above.

There is no other Granddaughter I would rather be, than the Granddaughter of Eileen Austin.

Love you Nan,

Sissy.