00:06I think he knows me better than anyone else in my life there's a lot that we
00:11don't need to say to each other but we just know because we've experienced the
00:14same things I just saw Jill really clearly and really connected with her
00:20from the first second I met her he was adopted himself so he and I had that
00:25common bond what I don't think either of us would have expected is the actual
00:29friendship that came out of that so we just became friends and we really got to
00:35know each other told each other each other's stories the similarities and the
00:39commonalities were kind of surreal our stories have similarities yes but they
00:45also have huge differences I was growing up in a white heteronormative world as a
00:53black Aboriginal gay kid in the 80s there's the black world and then there's
00:59the white world I felt walking in each of them was complicated enough that trying
01:04to bring those together would just make it even harder my dad made a decision that
01:10he'll take me out to Berk with the hope that I would see how lucky I was to have
01:15the life that I had today but I don't think what he realized was by doing that
01:20it didn't close the door to that chapter it opened it when you decided to adopt
01:26like what was that process like for you because I have a receipt that says that
01:31you paid $70 for me
01:36they were looking for you for years but they couldn't find you we were told that
01:40you passed away at birth looking at each other I guess we sort of felt like
01:45looking in the mirror how do you feel now Jill you're just about to meet your mum I
01:51just felt a sense of belonging I just was interested in having more children it
01:56felt so natural it's Uncle Peter and Uncle Russell
02:02yeah and you look like it
02:04do I? yes yeah my boy growing up you just don't think I've been blessed with all of
02:10this stuff and the importance of that being passed down through generations
02:15connection the country the spiritual sense of belonging is is what guides you for the
02:21rest of your life your story is our story and our story is yours
