Speaker 1: My name's Kate Robinson. I'm a storyteller on Finean Tell.
Speaker 1: I am an Iranian Australian podcaster who currently lives on
Speaker 1: Warundrii Woong and Bunoran country. I'd like to recognize the
Speaker 1: traditional custodians of this continent whose land was stolen nearly
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty years ago, in particular the Camereaga
Speaker 1: and Warunduri people whose land this podcast was recorded on.
Speaker 1: And we extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Strait islander peoples that are listening. The rich storytelling history
Speaker 1: of the world's oldest living culture is what we pay
Speaker 1: homage to when we tell stories on Finan Tell.
Speaker 2: Hello, I'm Jimilla Risby, and this is Fine and Tell
Speaker 2: the search for the next generation of Australian storytellers and
Speaker 2: a chance to honors some stories that we might not
Speaker 2: otherwise have heard. Each episode, our storytellers go head to
Speaker 2: head to tell a story related to the episode's theme.
Speaker 2: Whoever finds and tells the best story will win the
Speaker 2: episode and be one step closer to being crowned the
Speaker 2: Find and Tell Champion and win best in Class podcast.
Speaker 2: In goodies and gear from the amazing team at Road
Speaker 2: Australia and we are excited to welcome the Australian Film,
Speaker 2: Television and Radio School on as a partner. After us,
Speaker 2: we'll provide our winner with a range of short courses
Speaker 2: and mentoring so they can continue to find and tell
Speaker 2: stories into the future. In today's episode, our storytellers are
Speaker 2: tackling the theme today was.
Speaker 3: A bad day.
Speaker 2: First up, it's Ben, who last time took us on
Speaker 2: a Teddy Bear hunt. Let's hear what he's got in
Speaker 2: store for us today. Hey, Ben, welcome back to Find.
Speaker 4: And Tell, Happy to be guest. Thank you tell me.
Speaker 2: During the process of making your three podcast episodes, did
Speaker 2: you start to feel more comfortable as you went along
Speaker 2: or with a new challenges at every stage?
Speaker 4: I mean, today was a bad day was a hard
Speaker 4: topic for me because no one really wants to talk
Speaker 4: about the bad days most times, you know, the stories
Speaker 4: that we tell are positives, like no one really wants
Speaker 4: to hear about you're feeling down or you're feeling negative.
Speaker 4: And I wanted to kind of take that as an
Speaker 4: opportunity to do, you know, I guess put myself out
Speaker 4: there and feel pretty vulnerable to address address how I
Speaker 4: felt about that day.
Speaker 2: All right, I want to hear this episode. Your theme
Speaker 2: this week was today was a bad day. Let's get
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 4: Brenna grew up in the landlocked state of Kansas, USA.
Speaker 4: She would recall the stories from her father about living
Speaker 4: on the coast in Australia and the culture that came
Speaker 4: with it. The moment Brenna turned eighteen do she wanted
Speaker 4: to experience this for herself. So Brenna made the move
Speaker 4: to the Ilahara with her older sister Tanil to live
Speaker 4: with their grandmother, and not too long after that, Brenna
Speaker 4: met me. I remember many memories from the tour I
Speaker 4: spent with Brenner, movies, heading the different bars and clubs,
Speaker 4: and just jumping in the car chasing adventures, you know,
Speaker 4: the average eighteen year old life, although one day will
Speaker 4: forever stand out amongst the rest, a day that shadowed
Speaker 4: all the good memories from that year, one bad day
Speaker 4: that I would carry the burden of for the next
Speaker 4: ten years. This is a story I've told friends and
Speaker 4: family before. Usually when conversations turn to past mistakes in life,
Speaker 4: this story is the first one that comes to mind,
Speaker 4: and every time I tell it, I get this overwhelming
Speaker 4: feeling rush over me and sit in the pit of
Speaker 4: my stomach guilt. The times I would tell the story
Speaker 4: to friends, I'd always ask myself, I wonder how Brenner
Speaker 4: is doing. And so, after many years of no contact,
Speaker 4: in the hopes she might be willing to sit down
Speaker 4: and talk about that day, I reached out.
Speaker 5: Even when he sent me that message, I just was like, what,
Speaker 5: it's been one you okay? I messaged to Nil and
Speaker 5: I said, you'll not believe who's messaged me. And she
Speaker 5: said who? And I said Ben Heyward And she's like,
Speaker 5: what does that boy want? And I said, well, I
Speaker 5: don't know, and she's like, we'll better open that message.
Speaker 4: Hi, Brenner, it's been a while. I know this is
Speaker 4: out of the ordinary, but I'm reaching out to ask
Speaker 4: you'd potentially be up to chat with me about the
Speaker 4: day over ten years ago when you were seriously injured.
Speaker 6: I thought of this story because.
Speaker 4: I've carried a lot of guilt for some time now,
Speaker 4: and I feel responsible for what happened to you that day. Obviously,
Speaker 4: it's a lot to take in, and I understand if
Speaker 4: you need more information or time. Once again, thank you
Speaker 4: for considering. I hope your chat soon.
Speaker 7: Ben.
Speaker 4: Hello, how are you good to see you?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Really good to see you.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: This was the first time I've seen Brenner in over
Speaker 4: ten years, and the first time I've ever spoken to
Speaker 4: her about that day when we were kids.
Speaker 5: We were eighteen. I was eighteen, new to Australia. I
Speaker 5: think I was just craving like new experiences and then
Speaker 5: meeting you and obviously like we were like good, would
Speaker 5: go on a few dates and things you offered. I
Speaker 5: just remember us having a conversation of things to do around.
Speaker 6: The ill Worra.
Speaker 4: Brenna was keen to learn how to surf, and I
Speaker 4: was excited to be the one to teach her.
Speaker 5: I was like, oh, that's so cool because I haven't served.
Speaker 5: You know, I've never served in a grow up surfing.
Speaker 4: So after a few weeks we planned to finally put
Speaker 4: the wetsuits on and head out. But that day the
Speaker 4: other war was hit with severe storms, pouring rain and
Speaker 4: huge swell. I could see the disappointment in Brenna's face,
Speaker 4: knowing that she was so excited to go out and
Speaker 4: surf for the day, so I decided I could take
Speaker 4: it to a local nine gem.
Speaker 6: What did you call it again, the washing machine? The
Speaker 6: washing machine, Yes, that's what you called it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The washing machine is a large flat slab of natural
Speaker 4: rock at the tip of Barrack Point, a local popular
Speaker 4: surf break. The rock drops down vertically about two feet
Speaker 4: and as kids, we would crouch down, lay hard against
Speaker 4: the rock wall and let the whitewash flow seamlessly over
Speaker 4: the top of us, allowing you to experience what it's
Speaker 4: like in the inside of a barrel of a wave.
Speaker 4: It's perfect for someone to get the experience of surfing
Speaker 4: without actually doing it. I picked Brenner up and just
Speaker 4: before leaving, I remember Brenda's grandmother looking me in the
Speaker 4: eyes and saying, you look after my granddaughter now. I
Speaker 4: gave him my word that I would.
Speaker 5: We walked out to the cliff edge. We looked down
Speaker 5: and there was the expanse of the rock. It just
Speaker 5: looked like a little rectangular slab.
Speaker 6: I think the tide was high.
Speaker 5: It was stormy as well, so it was a bit rough.
Speaker 6: But like at that.
Speaker 5: Point, you know we're going to experience this, you know,
Speaker 5: barrel of a wave. Because you kept talking about how
Speaker 5: beautiful it was. I did have some reservations going all
Speaker 5: the waves are a little bit high, but you were like, no, like,
Speaker 5: this is how it needs to be. Okay, let's do it,
Speaker 5: you know, because I trusted you, and I.
Speaker 6: Was just like if people have done this before.
Speaker 5: Like they didn't really have any kind of initial fears
Speaker 5: for safety when I went there with you, I wasn't
Speaker 5: even thinking about, you know, what would it happen.
Speaker 4: This is exactly how I remember that day. Besides one
Speaker 4: important piece. See, what Brennan didn't know was that I
Speaker 4: knew it was too dangerous to be out there. I
Speaker 4: knew we shouldn't have gone out that day. I've replayed
Speaker 4: this scenario so many times in my head trying to
Speaker 4: figure out why I ignored my instincts. The answer that
Speaker 4: I'd given myself was that I was too embarrassed to
Speaker 4: admit that I was in over my head. I let
Speaker 4: ego cloud my judgment, and I really just wanted to
Speaker 4: impress Brenner.
Speaker 5: Then you told me, okay, like it's time to go,
Speaker 5: time to you know, crouch beneath the washing machine.
Speaker 4: And by this point I'm screaming because the sound of
Speaker 4: the waves are just so loud, crashing against the rocks,
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 5: You know, pretty thrilled, like it was exhilarating, you know,
Speaker 5: your your adrenaline's pumping.
Speaker 4: I'm screaming, telling her, when the waves come, you have
Speaker 4: to duck hold on tight, and.
Speaker 6: So we crouch along this rock.
Speaker 5: I think you're holding on to me and I'm holding
Speaker 5: on to you, and you're like, okay, are you ready?
Speaker 4: And we ducked down and the first wave crashed over
Speaker 4: the top of us.
Speaker 5: And I think I remember just thinking, oh my god,
Speaker 5: this wave is really powerful.
Speaker 4: Like that was crazy, and the excitement on her face
Speaker 4: was that feeling didn't last too long because after the
Speaker 4: first wave come over, the second wave, the third wave
Speaker 4: came over crashing.
Speaker 5: I just remember going, oh my god, like please, like
Speaker 5: just stop, just stop, just stop.
Speaker 6: It was white wash everywhere.
Speaker 5: I was skidding on my bum had my hands out,
Speaker 5: my feet in front of me, and I was just skidding.
Speaker 4: By the time I had enough kind of stable grip
Speaker 4: to lift my hands off the rock face and white
Speaker 4: wash out of my eyes.
Speaker 6: I looked up and Brenna was gone.
Speaker 4: I jumped up and I turned around and I could
Speaker 4: just see Brenna's body just laying hard up against the cliff. Face,
Speaker 4: which is in a pool of her own blood. She said,
Speaker 4: I can't stand my feet. Her feet had been sliced
Speaker 4: by oysters and cut by the sharp rock face, and
Speaker 4: they had cut her to the bone. Brenna was losing
Speaker 4: like a lot of blood, like there was blood everywhere.
Speaker 4: She was soaking wet. I could see muscles and bone
Speaker 4: and flesh.
Speaker 7: We have to go to the hospital. We get to
Speaker 7: the hospital and I say, wait here, I'm going to
Speaker 7: go get your wheelchair and I run in. They were like, oh,
Speaker 7: you're okay, you're bleeding, and I remember saying, it's not
Speaker 7: my blood.
Speaker 4: I need a wheelchair right now.
Speaker 3: They had to.
Speaker 5: Put me in the shower to remove the wet suit,
Speaker 5: and they basically washed all the wounds with me, and
Speaker 5: then they popped me back into the bed.
Speaker 4: I remember standing next to the hospital bed, still dripping
Speaker 4: wet and salt water and blood. Brenna told me to
Speaker 4: call her grandmother. There's a phone, rang I remember thinking,
Speaker 4: the last time I spoke to this woman, I told
Speaker 4: her that her granddaughter would be safe.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: Only hours later, I was calling to tell her that
Speaker 4: Brenner was in the emergency department. Making that call and
Speaker 4: happened to hear your grandmother say what's going on and
Speaker 4: I've gone Brenna's in the hospital.
Speaker 7: After she told me you make sure you look after
Speaker 7: my granddaughter, I was like.
Speaker 5: Fuck.
Speaker 7: So that for me was like a pretty heavy moment
Speaker 7: because I was responsible and I knew better, because I
Speaker 7: knew we shouldn't have want to anything that day. I
Speaker 7: knew looking at the size of the swell and the conditions,
Speaker 7: but I was too embarrassed and I let my ego
Speaker 7: get in front of me. I remember you getting swept away,
Speaker 7: and that feeling was just horrific because I didn't address
Speaker 7: the guilt then, I just allowed it to kind of
Speaker 7: make me feel worse.
Speaker 6: I felt bad that you felt so bad about it.
Speaker 5: The experience that we shared together, it was not just
Speaker 5: you choosing to go out there and making me go
Speaker 5: out there. I went out there on my own accord
Speaker 5: as well. I wanted to be cool and I wanted to,
Speaker 5: you know, experience life in Australia, and I thought that
Speaker 5: this was how people did it over here. And I
Speaker 5: felt embarrassed too, because I was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 5: he's probably taken that many people to the washing machine,
Speaker 5: and I'm the first person that's actually you know, didn't
Speaker 5: do it properly, and you'd probably think all some dumb American.
Speaker 5: I never had any sort of like harsh feelings towards you.
Speaker 5: It was more just I think self reflection from my
Speaker 5: own self to go what I did was my decision
Speaker 5: was pretty stupid, but I've learned from it. There's so
Speaker 5: many things that happen in people's lives that have such
Speaker 5: a big effect on maybe someone personally, but another person
Speaker 5: you know, might not think it as much. When you
Speaker 5: were talking about the locals and how it was like
Speaker 5: a local gym, it kind of resonated with me a
Speaker 5: little bit because I wanted to feel like a local
Speaker 5: because I wanted to live here and I wanted to
Speaker 5: be a part of Australia because it is part of
Speaker 5: my heritage. And I think maybe that was that was
Speaker 5: kind of the crux of it, you know, I wanted
Speaker 5: to feel, you know, one with Australia.
Speaker 6: Have you been back there that day?
Speaker 5: So I live I live around that area and I
Speaker 5: go for a lot of runs along Barrick Point where
Speaker 5: it's located out, but I've never actually been back down
Speaker 5: to that rock surface. It definitely doesn't look as menacing,
Speaker 5: I think as as I remember it. So is this
Speaker 5: the kind of weather that you would take people?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Wow, see right now, that's perfect that this is the
Speaker 4: type of weather. We should have come.
Speaker 5: Out still potentially get dragged, but definitely not at the
Speaker 5: rate that I did.
Speaker 7: Did you want to go give it a gay? Oh?
Speaker 5: No, definitely not.
Speaker 3: No, I got enough of it.
Speaker 5: But yeah, one and done.
Speaker 6: I don't think I could ever know that moment.
Speaker 5: We got to have a big slap in the face
Speaker 5: with our mortality. We are not immortal, even though we're
Speaker 5: eighteen and feel like we are and feel like we're
Speaker 5: on top of the world and the world is our oyster. No,
Speaker 5: the world has oysters and they cut off your feet.
Speaker 2: Ben, What are you most proud of hearing that?
Speaker 1: Ah?
Speaker 4: One of my most proud of I think I'm proud
Speaker 4: of myself that I took the opportunity and the chance
Speaker 4: to address the guilt that I've carried for such a
Speaker 4: long time. You know, I don't know if I would
Speaker 4: have done it otherwise. Yeah, And given the opportunity to,
Speaker 4: I guess have the courage to, I guess reach out
Speaker 4: to Brennan after so many years I don't know if
Speaker 4: I would have put myself out there if it wasn't
Speaker 4: for this, if it wasn't for you know, find and
Speaker 4: tell and giving me the platform to do it.
Speaker 2: She was incredibly generous with her contribution and forgive me
Speaker 2: for making a story that's close to you a bit
Speaker 2: too in the business. But she was also great talent,
Speaker 2: like she can really tell a story. How did you
Speaker 2: coach or prepare her ahead of the interview.
Speaker 4: I didn't, I didn't at all. I yeah, Wow, the
Speaker 4: Brenner that I remembered from when we were kids and
Speaker 4: when we used to hang out when we were teenagers,
Speaker 4: I knew that she was going to be able to
Speaker 4: tell a good story, just because she's so intricate with
Speaker 4: the way she speaks. And I remember telling her that
Speaker 4: as well. I said, the Brenner that I know can
Speaker 4: can speak amazing like she can speak amazingly well. So
Speaker 4: I didn't really have to coach in any way. I
Speaker 4: just asked her to just recap the events of that day.
Speaker 4: And yeah, obviously in that interview that we did do
Speaker 4: was the first time that she had heard that I
Speaker 4: carried the guilt from that day as well, So it
Speaker 4: was a bit of a surprise to her, but as
Speaker 4: you heard, like, she's such an amazing person and she
Speaker 4: just for her to be willing to sit down and
Speaker 4: talk to me after ten years of no contact was
Speaker 4: someone really special. So I'm glad that. I'm glad that
Speaker 4: it turned out the way it did.
Speaker 2: You've shown us what it is to have two people
Speaker 2: experience the same event and have very different memories of
Speaker 2: it and very different perceptions and processing of it. And
Speaker 2: you didn't have to tell us that and give us
Speaker 2: a lecture on that being the case or what the
Speaker 2: psychology of that is. You sort of made that point
Speaker 2: so beautifully, and I think much more powerfully by showing
Speaker 2: us rather than telling us. One of the sequences in
Speaker 2: there that really struck me was the section where you're
Speaker 2: recalling that day at the washing machine, and you're going
Speaker 2: backwards and forwards between your retelling and then Brenner's retelling.
Speaker 2: How did you make that choice to use both recollections simultaneously.
Speaker 4: The first time I recapped my memories of the event,
Speaker 4: which were much more traumatic than Brenner's, and you can
Speaker 4: kind of hear the difference of it, you know, I
Speaker 4: recorded my recap first of all, and then in the
Speaker 4: interview with Brenner, and I just said, you know, go
Speaker 4: for it, told me what you can remember, and that
Speaker 4: was her one take. I guess it's like a bit
Speaker 4: of a juxtaposition. I guess that is that the word
Speaker 4: that we.
Speaker 2: Use in the internet got Yeah, and you've kept it.
Speaker 2: You've kept your retailing quite pure by making sure you
Speaker 2: did yours first, and you weren't you weren't colored by
Speaker 2: what she said.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Next, I suppose in your last episode you interviewed someone
Speaker 2: you'd never met before who could have been a teddy bear,
Speaker 2: and in this episode you interviewed someone who you hadn't
Speaker 2: seen for a long time, but you who you knew.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: What was the difference in preparing for those two inter
Speaker 2: use and was it more or less daunting to interview Brenner.
Speaker 4: I definitely had more nerves sitting down with Brenner because
Speaker 4: it's such a sensitive topic and we hadn't had no
Speaker 4: contact for such an extended amount of time. I think
Speaker 4: it was just a little bit nerve wracking. Yeah, reaching
Speaker 4: out to somebody from your past and for me to
Speaker 4: carry something, you know, that I felt like I was
Speaker 4: responsible for for such a long time. And for her
Speaker 4: to be like, oh, that was just a silly thing
Speaker 4: that happened when we were kids.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I think we both kind of left that a little
Speaker 4: bit more, I guess, wiser from both people's perspective on
Speaker 4: the situation as well. So I was glad I had
Speaker 4: that opportunity. I'm so grateful that Brenna wanted to actually
Speaker 4: sit down and then revisit that.
Speaker 6: Ben.
Speaker 2: I think you've made a really stunning piece of audio. Congratulations,
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. How will Ben fair up against Nar?
Speaker 2: We're going to hear what story she found. The theme
Speaker 2: of today was a bad day in just a moment.
Speaker 2: This is Fined and Tell, and our theme this week
Speaker 2: is today was a bad day. When we last heard
Speaker 2: from Nan, she made us consider what it's like when
Speaker 2: your name becomes a global phenomenon and helped us sympathize
Speaker 2: with Karen's around the world. Let's see what she's made
Speaker 2: for us this time. Hey, Nayan, welcome back to Find
Speaker 2: and Tell.
Speaker 3: Hello, it's good to be back.
Speaker 2: All right, we're going into story number two, so we're
Speaker 2: not quite you know, old hands at this, but I
Speaker 2: feel like we've had a little bit of practice. Is
Speaker 2: a little less nerve wracking sending this one out into
Speaker 2: the world than it was last time.
Speaker 3: No, I thought it'd got easier, but no. And I
Speaker 3: feel also because this story is the one that I'm
Speaker 3: most yeah, feel most personal and passionate about, So I'm
Speaker 3: extra and O.
Speaker 2: You're a news journal in your day job, so this
Speaker 2: is a little bit different for you, but at the
Speaker 2: same time it's a little bit familiar. I feel like
Speaker 2: the big shift is you. You're being asked to bring
Speaker 2: more of you to this project. How does that feel?
Speaker 2: Is that comfortable for you?
Speaker 3: It makes me feel very vulnerable. Yeah, it's yeah, definitely
Speaker 3: a great opportunity to explore topics that I normally wouldn't
Speaker 3: be able to. And my initial reaction to you know,
Speaker 3: the theme today was a bad day. I mean, every
Speaker 3: day is a bad day news. There's lots of bad
Speaker 3: things happening here. So I thought, yeah, I could hopefully
Speaker 3: make this something a bit more personal, something a bit
Speaker 3: more poignant, and something that even though it's a bit
Speaker 3: uncomfortable to hear to at least think about. Yeah, because
Speaker 3: I think it will help everyone understand each other more.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2: Really looking forward to hearing it. This is today was
Speaker 2: a bad day. That's the theme we're tackling, and it's
Speaker 2: NaN's second contribution to find and tell.
Speaker 4: Life is changing in Australia and around the world.
Speaker 3: Those were Twenty twenty was a weird year, but particularly
Speaker 3: for Asians.
Speaker 4: Police in London say the number of hate crimes against
Speaker 4: people of East Asian descent has tripled since the beginning
Speaker 4: of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaker 6: We had been seeing things about attacks already, like in
Speaker 6: the US, and that boiled our blood every time we
Speaker 6: saw it, Like I saw a really sad one in
Speaker 6: New York about a man who literally got like beat up,
Speaker 6: beat up for being Asian in the subway.
Speaker 3: Sophie Doe first saw these kind of news headlines as
Speaker 3: Sydney was locking down. Like most of us. She thought
Speaker 3: the pandemic would pass quickly. Obviously it didn't. Sophie has
Speaker 3: a younger sister, Rosa. They've shared a room for most
Speaker 3: of their lives, finish each other's sentences and even sound
Speaker 3: a little alike.
Speaker 6: Me and Rosa are like two peas in a pod
Speaker 6: where best friends were like, literally we're the same person,
Speaker 6: except I feel like I grew up a little more
Speaker 6: tomboyish than her.
Speaker 3: The sisters of Vietnamese Australian It's like wearing another layer.
Speaker 3: According to Rosa, I feel like growing up Asian in
Speaker 3: Australia is something that only Asian Australians have to think about, right,
Speaker 3: Like being Asian was almost a disadvantage and almost something
Speaker 3: that I had to leverage. There were the usual insults,
Speaker 3: things like ching chong and where are you really from,
Speaker 3: which they learned to brush off. I would hear comments
Speaker 3: being like, oh, like you're really cool for an Asian,
Speaker 3: or like you're really pretty for an Asian, or you're
Speaker 3: really funny for an Asian. Before twenty twenty, they didn't
Speaker 3: have to think twice about walking around Merrickfilm, the suburb
Speaker 3: they grew up in.
Speaker 6: This place is predominantly an Asian area. That is where
Speaker 6: all the Asian grocery stores are, that's where all the
Speaker 6: Asian restaurants are, and it's a place where I was like,
Speaker 6: I'm always safe here.
Speaker 3: March thirty was a mundane not that you could tell.
Speaker 3: The streets were empty, most shops were closed, and social
Speaker 3: distancing was mandatory. The sisters wanted Bubble Team an excuse
Speaker 3: to go outside or.
Speaker 6: Azara and I were going out for gong cha, that's
Speaker 6: what we wanted, and we were like, I need to
Speaker 6: get out of the house. We could just go for
Speaker 6: a nice walk.
Speaker 3: I remember we were like leaving the house and we
Speaker 3: were like, oh, we should drive, but then we're like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's a nice day. We've been locked in like like
Speaker 3: how long, so let's just go for a walk.
Speaker 6: And it's not that far. That day was just kind
Speaker 6: of like a fluke. We kind of just decided like,
Speaker 6: let's just go a different way.
Speaker 3: They eventually come to the main road where they noticed
Speaker 3: they're not the only ones around, and.
Speaker 6: When we got down to that crossing, I remember like
Speaker 6: hearing people, two girls specifically being like super loud, and
Speaker 6: I was just like, why are they going too loud?
Speaker 6: It's like super quiet and dead on the streets right.
Speaker 3: Now, So seeing anyone was like, oh, like someone's there,
Speaker 3: rosa notices. One of the girls was especially noisy, and
Speaker 3: she had her hair in like a like a high bun,
Speaker 3: and she had like a headband.
Speaker 6: She was white, and she also had like this like
Speaker 6: shoulder bag with her. They looked, honestly, like the best
Speaker 6: way to describe the two girls where they looked a
Speaker 6: little sketchy, like they looked as though they got in
Speaker 6: trouble frequently.
Speaker 3: The sisters were on the other side of the street,
Speaker 3: but felt like something was off, so they continued to
Speaker 3: wait for the pedestrian light. But then the two girls
Speaker 3: start to cross the road towards Sophie and Rosa, and
Speaker 3: they walked past us, saying us stay away from those girls.
Speaker 6: They've got coronavirus shit, like you guys eat bats and
Speaker 6: shit and like Eurasian dogs. And I'm like, what does
Speaker 6: that even mean? At first, I.
Speaker 3: Didn't think I heard it right, but then I was like,
Speaker 3: wait a second, did she actually just say that?
Speaker 6: So that was why Rosa and I were both like
Speaker 6: almost in unison, like what did you say?
Speaker 3: As Rosa recalls, the reaction set the girl off even more.
Speaker 6: She drops her bag and then starts running out Elson,
Speaker 6: I'm like, oh shit, like this isn't gonna go well.
Speaker 3: Like she had like her fists up and she was
Speaker 3: like jumping around and like looking like she wanted to swing.
Speaker 6: It was like pure like ftal flight.
Speaker 3: It was pure fear because I remember like feeling my
Speaker 3: legs shaking, you know, when you're like about to do
Speaker 3: a speech in class and you're really nervous and your
Speaker 3: legs start like shaking.
Speaker 6: That's how I felt, but like jelly.
Speaker 3: Rosa, Sophie, and the two girls were roll in the
Speaker 3: middle of the road. People were watching and filming from
Speaker 3: their apartments and shops, but no one came out to help. Eventually,
Speaker 3: a man walking by carrying his groceries tries to come
Speaker 3: between them. It looked as if the two girls were
Speaker 3: finally moving on when one of them stops and turns
Speaker 3: to face Rosa, and.
Speaker 6: That's when she turned around and she spat on me.
Speaker 3: In that moment, Sophie felt powerless.
Speaker 6: I watched the whole thing in slow motion, like it
Speaker 6: happened so slow in my eyes, like I remember seeing
Speaker 6: it so like vividly, and I felt dumb for not
Speaker 6: stopping it, like I felt guilty. I was like, I
Speaker 6: wish it got on me.
Speaker 3: Sophie's furious and wants to protect her younger sister. She
Speaker 3: tries to retaliate, but the man with his groceri is
Speaker 3: intervenes and.
Speaker 6: I was like, oh man, I want to do something
Speaker 6: so bad. And I was just like, you're so disgusting,
Speaker 6: Like what's wrong with you?
Speaker 3: The man gives Rosa some water to wash her eye
Speaker 3: out while the two girls run off, Sophie and Rosa
Speaker 3: and left to process what had just happened.
Speaker 6: I was just like shocked and disgusted.
Speaker 3: I was like, how, like, no one's ever spoilt on
Speaker 3: me before, first of all, And I was like, how
Speaker 3: could she.
Speaker 6: I just felt very.
Speaker 3: Like angry, very angry, very disrespected. The feelix spitting on
Speaker 3: someone is like, it's such a disrespectful thing to do,
Speaker 3: Like I probably would have rather have punched me in
Speaker 3: the face, to be honest. After reporting the incident to police,
Speaker 3: the sisters make their way back home. Now they have
Speaker 3: to tell their family.
Speaker 6: And my dad was very upset.
Speaker 3: So my dad's very protective of us, obviously, and he
Speaker 3: was really really angry, really upset. And I also remember
Speaker 3: my hearing from my cousins that my aunties and uncles,
Speaker 3: a few of them had said like, oh, they shouldn't
Speaker 3: have done anything, like should have just like ignored it.
Speaker 6: They should have just like turned the other cheek. I
Speaker 6: remember not crying until like the night of like everyone
Speaker 6: went to sleep and I was in my own room
Speaker 6: and I had time to myself, and I finally like,
Speaker 6: broke down and cried because I was just like, how
Speaker 6: could this happen to us?
Speaker 3: Later that night, Rosa and Sophie posted videos of the
Speaker 3: incident online. It wasn't long before people on the internet
Speaker 3: identified the girls behind the attack. It turns out the
Speaker 3: main perpetrator was already known to police, but she was
Speaker 3: seventeen years old, meaning she was charged as a minor.
Speaker 3: In the end, she only had to pay a fine
Speaker 3: and received a good behavior bond.
Speaker 6: Or Two women who were spat on in an alleged
Speaker 6: coronavirus fueled racist attack have spoken about the ordeal.
Speaker 3: The incident even made headlines internationally. Rosa and Sophie were
Speaker 3: overwhelmed by the response. It made them feel like they
Speaker 3: weren't so alone.
Speaker 6: A huge band of people, not just Asians but white
Speaker 6: people too, of every background defending us and being like,
Speaker 6: that's not how we treat people in Australia. And I
Speaker 6: think meeting those made me feel very like there are
Speaker 6: good people still and it just takes, unfortunately, something like
Speaker 6: this happening for people to be like, no, we got
Speaker 6: your back.
Speaker 3: Rosa and Sophia are grateful most of the internet stood
Speaker 3: up for them, but more importantly, they're proud of themselves
Speaker 3: speaking up during that whole thing that only lasted five minutes.
Speaker 6: I'm happy that we spoke up. I'm happy that we,
Speaker 6: you know, stood our ground, and I was also able
Speaker 6: to make sure we both got out of it safely.
Speaker 2: Neon, congratulations again on some really impressive storytelling and storytelling that.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of complexity of what's going on in
Speaker 2: that story, and so I'm hoping we can unpack that
Speaker 2: a little bit. You're an Asian Australian woman yourself, so
Speaker 2: how did you manage your own well being and your
Speaker 2: own feelings about the situation while you were creating the narrative?
Speaker 3: Yeah, good question. If you remember at the time, you know,
Speaker 3: the pandemic was so chaotic, there was so much coming
Speaker 3: out in the news every day, let alone in a
Speaker 3: daily news cycle, a lot of stories. You know, you
Speaker 3: hear maybe twenty thirty seconds best from them, you know,
Speaker 3: in a small news report, and you get the crux
Speaker 3: of what they're saying, but you don't get the nuances.
Speaker 3: And there's yeah, so many things I feel aren't able
Speaker 3: to be shared in news reporting. So that's why I felt, Yeah,
Speaker 3: because this was such a personal piece, and I remember
Speaker 3: at the time I was so outraged and helpless at
Speaker 3: the same time. I am just confused, and it was
Speaker 3: just one of those stories that always lingered at the
Speaker 3: back of my head and it was hard at times.
Speaker 3: Even listening back to the story. I was getting a
Speaker 3: bit teary just then, and I thought this would be
Speaker 3: the perfect opportunity to really let Sophie and Rosa share
Speaker 3: their experiences and let them share how that moment hasn't
Speaker 3: defined them, but rather how they've been able to move
Speaker 3: on from it and define it themselves.
Speaker 2: As part of you bringing it to life, we heard
Speaker 2: audio of the incident. What were we listening to there?
Speaker 3: So that was raw footage of the actual whole incident
Speaker 3: that happened. Oh wow. It was a mix of people
Speaker 3: bystanders who had filmed and then eventually they uploaded it
Speaker 3: or sent it to Rosa and Sophie, And one of
Speaker 3: the videos was Rosa filming herself because she wanted to,
Speaker 3: I guess, in that moment defend and protect us. So
Speaker 3: that was actually what happened on the day.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really impressive piece of storytelling and
Speaker 2: something that's important to revisit. You know, I think there's
Speaker 2: a bit of a sense of, well, that's something that
Speaker 2: happened in COVID and that was COVID specific, rather than
Speaker 2: recognizing the underlying racism that's going on there. That doesn't
Speaker 2: go anywhere just because the virus isn't something people are
Speaker 2: as scared of anymore. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: The theme was today was a bad day and we
Speaker 2: heard some really heavy stories. I'm going to take a
Speaker 2: moment and try and figure out who's going to win
Speaker 2: this contest. Are we back in a moment and we'll
Speaker 2: let them know. From the opening moments to the final
Speaker 2: seconds of Ben's episode, I found it utterly captivating. I
Speaker 2: really commend him on being so vulnerable and going and
Speaker 2: finding an girlfriend to be able to tell this story
Speaker 2: is actually really brave. Ben is embodying the purpose of
Speaker 2: this competition and how he's celebrating different parts of Australia,
Speaker 2: and he's managed to bring the physicality of the setting
Speaker 2: to life for us as well as the characters in
Speaker 2: his story. He really should be congratulated on the emotion
Speaker 2: that was at the forefront. The heart that was in
Speaker 2: this story this week is a very difficult contest to call, though,
Speaker 2: because Naan also did an outstanding job. Obviously, the subject
Speaker 2: matter is an incredibly important one, and Naan's reporting prowess
Speaker 2: is really clear. The way she sequenced how we heard
Speaker 2: that story as the audience. It's sort of something you
Speaker 2: don't notice when you're just listening to a news story,
Speaker 2: but actually that's very hard to achieve. She's really thought
Speaker 2: about how she told us each piece of information and
Speaker 2: in what order. Now, if I had any notes, and
Speaker 2: I'm grasping here, I wouldn't expect Naan to put herself
Speaker 2: and her opinions in the story normally, but Naance an
Speaker 2: Asian Australian, and I would have really lacked to hear
Speaker 2: her reflections even briefly on the story she was trying
Speaker 2: to tell. I have complained about how tough this decision
Speaker 2: making stuff is every week, folks, I really have. But
Speaker 2: this one, this one might be the toughest yet. And
Speaker 2: the winner I've picked is I think the strongest piece
Speaker 2: of raw storytelling that I've heard in the competition. Ben, Honestly,
Speaker 2: I am so impressed you are this week's win out.
Speaker 4: Congratulations, thank you so much. I can't believe it. I
Speaker 4: honestly can't believe it. Thank you so much. You are
Speaker 4: most welcome.
Speaker 2: I think the way that you put that story together,
Speaker 2: you help me from the first second to the last. Okay,
Speaker 2: that was an extremely hard decision to make. It's a
Speaker 2: real testament to our storytellers who are absolutely raising the
Speaker 2: bar week by week. Thanks are starting to get very
Speaker 2: exciting as we get close to the finals, so make
Speaker 2: sure you don't miss an episode of Find and Tell.
Speaker 2: Just hit follow in your podcast app. A big thank
Speaker 2: you to our show partners Afters and Roade Australia. Find
Speaker 2: in Tell is a co production between iHeart Australia and
Speaker 2: the black Cast podcast network. Black Cast empowers First Nations
Speaker 2: people and people of color to reclaim their narratives, strengthen
Speaker 2: cultural identity, and contribute to a more inclusive Australia by
Speaker 2: showcasing exciting emerging talent from Australian communities.