Ever Present

I am Lola Greeno. I'm an Aboriginal shell necklace maker from the Ferneaux Islands. I'm really keen to tell my story about my Aboriginal ancestry, how shell necklace is a part of our living heritage, which is really important not only for me, but for my children and my grandchildren, so they have that knowledge passed on to them. And also for our community so that we are teaching other women in the community who are entitled to know the story about their families from the island.

I remember on a Sunday, elderly women used to come and visit mum probably after church, and then we used to walk to the beach and that was probably our first introduction as kids going to the beach with mum.

When we grew up and walked with the elders on Cape Barren to collect the shells, obviously we collected them for the elderly women. In those days, we didn't actually make anything.

Then when I moved over here, my mother moved to live in Launceston. I thought, I think we really should look back at what we've been doing and Make sure I sit and do something with her, which I did. We made some work together and it was from that my interest just started flying.