‘Changing people’s way of thinking’: the CWA members working for Indigenous recognition

‘People have this view, “get over it, forget about, it’s passed now”, but it’s not’: CWA member Aunty Thelma James at home in Lismore. Photograph: David Maurice Smith/The Guardian

Aunty Thelma James came from a long line of strong women who she says were taught that there’s no boundary except the boundaries you put on yourself.

Although the Bundjalung elder recalls “a lovely childhood” and a university education, James says she witnessed how intergenerational trauma continues to affect First Nations people today.