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Episode 15
Kong Family � Koori doctors

Kelvin Kong and his twin sisters grew up in Shoal Bay, NSW. Their mother is aboriginal and their father is Chinese. After their father returned to Malaysia, they were brought up by their mother Grace and their extended family from around the area. Grace was a registered nurse, one of the first indigenous nurses in Australia, and their father is a GP. In an environment where it was unusual to finish high school, they went on to be part of the new wave of indigenous medical graduates in NSW. In fact, the twins were the first indigenous medical graduates from Sydney University. Kelvin is presently training at John Hunter Hospital to be an ear nose and throat surgeon. Marilyn is training to be an obstetrician (another first for an indigenous woman) and Marlene is a qualified GP and is currently working in Sudan. It�s interesting that they have all chosen fields of expertise in areas they watched directly affecting their indigenous community while growing up. Kelvin and Marylin tell their story and we hear how they come from a long line of strong women. We meet two of these inspiring women, Gwen and Gracie over tea on the verandah of the family home.

GEORGE NEGUS: Our next yarn is not bad at all, even if I say so myself. It comes from country NSW and it's about a family - a big family, a close family, a family with a story to tell that makes you feel that we just might be getting somewhere on the reconciliation front, or, at least, they are. And it's got a medical connection so here's Dr Caroline West.

DR CAROLINE WEST, REPORTER: Meet the Kong family on their regular get-together in Shoal Bay, NSW. Today, there are about 30 family members, other times there's 60 or more. Growing up in the area, Kelvin Kong and his twin sisters watched their mother Grace, a nurse, attend to the health of their family. If someone was sick, they would rather go to Grace for treatment than go to a hospital where there were no Aboriginal health workers. Today, Kelvin, Marilyn and Marlene are all qualified doctors. They make up 5% of the 60 Aboriginal doctors in Australia.

MARILYN KONG: Um, I'm training to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology. And I'm doing that training through John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

KELVIN KONG: And I'm training to be an ear, nose and throat surgeon, er, currently working at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle as well.

MARILYN KONG: And, um, I've got a twin sister who's finished her GP training so she's a fully qualified GP. And she's currently volunteering with Medecins sans Frontieres and working in the Sudan. Our family's from the Worimi tribe which is, um, Port Stephens area. And, er, our father's, um, Chinese from Malaysia. But, er, our mother brought us up as a single parent so, um...for most of our childhood, so we strongly identify with our Aboriginal community.

KELVIN KONG: I'm always asked, and I really detest being asked, is, "Oh, you must be 50% this, 20% this," and etc, etc, which I really object to, you know. Um, I think I'm very proud I am Aboriginal and I am Chinese and I have two beautiful cultures. And I think we are fortunate to have them both together.

My mother is such a strong woman in terms of, um, getting herself through nursing, being one of the first Indigenous nurses.

DR CAROLINE WEST: Grace, you had an amazing career as a nurse as well. Can you tell me a bit about that?

GRACE KINSELLA: Well, I...I didn't think it was amazing at the time. It was a job. It was something that I had always wanted to do. And, um...I loved doing it. Like, um, but I think... I was amazed that there were no other Aboriginal professionals about and also I didn't get to see a lot of Aboriginal patients either.

KELVIN KONG: My nan has so much strength and so much character and so much vision.

GWEN RUSSELL: (Laughs) Well, I had 12 children - 8 girls and 4 boys. And now I think there's 29...32 grandkids.

DR CAROLINE WEST: What were, sort of, I guess, the messages of encouragement that you gave your kids all the time?

GWEN RUSSELL: Well, if they want to make anything of themselves, they've got to get in and do it. And it's only up to them.

MARILYN KONG: Well, as far as I know, I'll be the first Indigenous obstetrician-gynaecologist, when I finish my training, in Australia. And we supported our little brother when he decided he wanted to...to follow our footsteps.

KELVIN KONG: I think the profound thing is that in a lot of Indigenous communities ear health and ear troubles are at Fourth World status. So I've always been inspired to go in there and help. And, certainly, when looking amongst our family, all the ear troubles that we had - er, discharging ears, runny ears, runny noses, things like that - and it only happening in our community and our family and not other people. So there was always that desire to help in that area. And it also certainly made an interest in terms of where I wanted to do it, where I wanted to help from those...from those factors.

DR CAROLINE WEST: Would you share with us some of the thoughts you had when you were little?

KELVIN KONG: I can...probably, my darkest, um, memory from childhood is coming home one day after being taunted about, um, my race and feeling absolutely shattered about it. And I had a bath and I was scrubbing myself, trying to get rid of my brown skin.

DR CAROLINE WEST: How do you feel these days in comparison?

KELVIN KONG: Strong, black and proud. Um, what can I say? I'm a strong man because of my family. I'm a proud man because of my family. And, er...nothing gives me more pleasure than to walk around and let everyone know who I am and what I represent.

GEORGE NEGUS: Strong, black and proud - what did I tell you? A good, positive yarn about our Indigenous mates. Three medicos from the one Maitland family - thanks to Mum and Gran, if you believe the kids. And who wouldn't, now you've met them?


 
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