Nova's Gold-Medal Life

Olympian Nova Peris is a winner whatever she does, it seems. Nathan Brown looks at some of the highlights so far.

A highlights video of the sporting achievements of Nova Peris would be compelling viewing: the first indigenous Australian to win an Olympic gold medal; her switch to athletics (she was the first to win Olympic and Commonwealth gold in different sports); then her run in front of the Sydney home crowd in 2000.

“Those memories will be with me forever, particularly that Olympic gold, which was absolutely amazing, and then running at the Olympic Games was pretty unreal as well,” she tells me, with obvious enthusiasm.

Away from the field and track, Nova’s achievements and opportunities are almost as impressive. In the wake of her Olympic and Commonwealth successes (women’s hockey gold, Atlanta, 1996, and 200 m and 4 x 100 m relay, Kuala Lumpur, 1998), she was named Young Australian of the Year in 1997. In 1998, she attended Australia’s Constitutional Convention at the request of the Prime Minister, John Howard.

She was a board member of the National Depression Institute in 2000 and also continues to work with ATSIC for the setting up of a treaty between Australia and its indigenous peoples. Nova is also an artist, and her designs have been used on a Swatch watch and a number of Olympic commemorative coins and pins.

n Perhaps Nova’s highest-profile off-field role was on the frosty morning of June 8, 2000, when she became the first carrier of the Olympic torch on Australian soil, at the beginning of its around-Australia relay that ended with Kathy Freeman at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

“To be the first of 10,000 torch-carriers was one of the most fantastic thrills of my life,” Nova recalls. “And especially there—at Uluru, the spiritual heart of Australia. On that single day it was as if all the different threads of my life had come to-gether—my Aboriginality, my love of family represented by [her daughter] Jessie, at my shoulder, my sport that had carried me on the roller-coaster ride to that day, my spirituality and my love of Australia.”

a new chapter

With the recent publication of her autobiography Nova: My Story, she suggests she’s reached a new stage in life: “I guess when I was writing the book, I thought, Well, that’s it—that’s my sporting career. I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve in life, and now there’s a story to be told.

“I’m going to sell all my sporting memorabilia—everything—to the National Museum. A few people have asked why I would want to do that,” Nova continues. “My response is that it’s a time in my life that has passed. It’s a surreal sort of thing: the past has happened and it’s only when I look at pictures that I think, That really did happen!”

Nova still plays hockey in Canberra’s first division, but says she finds greater satisfaction and joy in her family. “Now that I have two children, I look at them and I think that having those two is far greater than any sporting achievement—you’re talking about real-life pleasures. Things that give pleasure every day. I’m just looking forward to what the future holds, and I’m looking forward to having more kids.”

Writing her story has been a part of that passage. “A few people had approached me, intrigued by my unique story,” Nova recalls. “At first I was in two minds, whether I should do it, whether I shouldn’t—but at the end when the manuscript finally went to the printers, I had no regrets at all.

It was a healing experience for everyone involved, especially my Nana and my real father. And often I thought, I never knew that. It took courage for some to say the things they did.”

In a way, her book is something Nova feels she has given back to her whole family. “All of my family—and a number of my cousins—have read it, and they were in tears,” she reflects. “It’s not like we’d never asked my grandmother about her life, but it’s not until you actually read the words that you can get a proper picture of what she must’ve gone through. So it’s now there forever, and the good thing is, for all the Peris kids and future generations, it’s going to be there for them, and we’re going to know the story of our family.”

an Australian heritage

Nova was born and raised in Darwin, with her first clear memory being that of Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin on Christmas Eve, 1974. She was raised by her mother and a strict but loving stepfather, and she credits much of her success to the values instilled in her during those years. However, she also recognises a strength derived from her Aboriginal heritage. By birth, she’s a member of the Muran clan, the traditional owners of parts of Kakadu and Arnhem Land, NT.

“When I go back out to Arnhem and spend time their with my father and aunties, I’m able to think that my ancestors sat in this cave thousands of years ago and painted on these escarpments,” Nova reflects. “It’s an inheritance that I have to protect.”

“Until very recently,” Nova says, “I never realised how much of a spiritual person I’ve become. I guess it was always in me, but I didn’t know until I went back to Kakadu and sat down with the old people, especially my great uncle, ‘Old Man’ Bill Neidje, and he put life into perspective.

“He couldn’t understand the significance of an Olympic gold medal until his son Jonathan said to him, ‘Dad, remember how you felt when you won your land back.’ That puts life into perspective; these old people have been fighting for justice for years.

“We all think winning a gold medal is an achievement, but it’s not in comparison to what the people who went before me and paved the way for me—the fighting that they had to go through.”

But to achieve the success she has, Nova has had some fighting of her own. She became involved in an abusive relationship and marriage when she was 18 and her first daughter was born a few days after her 19th birthday. The relationship continued for 11 years, forming a heart-rending personal backdrop to her sporting success. In the midst of this emotional pain, she trained persistently, travelling the world with her young daughter as she struggled financially, often embroiled in some sporting controversy.

It’s almost with surprise she now finds herself as a role model: “It’s not something I’ve participated in sport to become,” Nova comments. “But it’s just so happened that because of my achievements in sport and the way I’ve gone about achieving them, all of a sudden, I’m a role model. I guess that was the most important thing in doing my book; it had to be a no-glossed-over life story.”

It is this honesty that Nova hopes will encourage those reading her book. “When an obstacle confronts you, whether it’s an injury or something personal, you should never surrender,” she urges.

“If you’re determined, you can achieve. You’ve got to put aside what’s happened. Never look at a failure as a failure, look at it as a life lesson. I think things happen for a reason, but it’s no good hitting your head against a brick wall and trying to work out why.”

Nova: My Story, by Nova Peris, ABC Books, 2003.

Nova talks about reconciliation

People choose to be ignorant. Those people who aren’t racist have an open mind and are willing to learn and accept another person for who they are, not what they are. I’ve come across people who were racist because they were ignoran; for example, if they live down south, until they visit Darwin and they learn more about the culture and have a greater acceptance of it. As “Old Man” Bill Neidje told me, “There’s good white man, bad white man; good black man, bad black man.”

There’s good and bad in everyone; you treat me with respect and I’ll treat you with respect. Racism is something that’s taught: you’re not born a racist, and I think our education system is getting better, but it’s let us down because it’s failed to tell the true history of Australia.

One reason I wanted to tell my story is that there’s been a lot of suffering in indigenous cultures and I guess when the Rabbit-Proof Fence movie came out, many Australians were shocked to discover our history and wondered if this really did happen. I’m saying, “Yeah, it really did happen.” So to a certain extent, there’s a lot of hidden shame. My life hasn’t been easy, but I couldn’t even begin to compare my life with what my grandmother went through.

In my lifetime, I sincerely hope this country produces a treaty that recognises that the Aboriginal people were the nation’s first people, and embraces the inherited rights of the Aboriginal people. I think a treaty is something people shouldn’t be afraid of: it’s a human rights issue. Australia is the only country in the Commonwealth where a treaty was never signed or agreed upon with the nation’s first people. I don’t think we can talk about reconciliation and moving forward until that’s acknowledged.

Australian people aren’t losing anything; they’re gaining thousands of years of history from Aboriginal culture. But mention the word treaty and a lot of people say it’s about compensation. It’s not about compensation; it’s about a number of real issues that need to be addressed.
—Nathan Brown

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