“I didn’t come to Fitzroy Crossing with family, but the residents have become my family. It’s beautiful to be loved by them and to love them back as well,” says Guwardi Ngadu carer Emma Weasand who originally arrived in the Kimberley as agency staff before the residents and community in Fitzroy Crossing stole her heart.
“I love Fitzroy Crossing – the people, the culture, the history and the job. When you can come to work and it not really feel like work, that’s the best.”
Emma has spent three years at Juniper Guwardi Ngadu Residential Aged Care Home in Fitzroy Crossing after receiving the call to head to the Kimberley when working in Albany.
“I’d never heard of Fitzroy Crossing so I did a Google search and it came up with somewhere in Victoria. So when I arrived in Broome and we drove for five hours on the bus in full-on bush, I thought that Google search might have been a bit off,” Emma laughs.
“Initially it was a bit of a culture shock, but then I just fell in love with the place. You can learn so much more about Indigenous Australia here that you just don’t learn in school.”
Emma has been fishing (although is yet to catch a barramundi), catching cherabin (freshwater prawns) and has learnt to make the best damper from local damper queen Edna and resident Nancy.
Emma has also learnt how a regional community comes together in times of crisis.
“The floods are a great reference. Everyone came together as a community. If your house was flooded people would look after you; those that had boats were coming to everyone’s aid; people were saving wildlife. People would put their own troubles aside to help each other,” she says.
The calling to aged care came to Emma early after finding the joy of taking care of her own Opa and Oma. Upon finishing High School, she pursued her Certificate III in Individual Support working throughout the State before joining Juniper.
At Guwardi, her bubbly personality is a perfect fit for the therapy and lifestyle work with residents.
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